The Passage of Time
by Fairytail-FMA-fan
Summary: When E.N.D, the most powerful demon created by Zeref, is sent on a simple search and retrieval mission, he ends up getting much more than he bargained for in the target, a feisty blonde mage with a penchant for getting into trouble.
1. Epoch

Welcome to my first attempt at a chaptered fic. Let me know what you think! :)

* * *

 **Epoch**

 _In the fields of chronology and periodization, an epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured_.

* * *

The arena smelled of dirt and blood as usual. E.N.D inhaled deeply, the flare of his nostrils almost indistinguishable with his large intake of breath.

He lived for this scent, it meant he would again be able to test his strength against the very best. To him, an undefeated champion, it meant victory.

The gladiator squatted down briefly, grabbing a fistful of dirt and rubbing it over his face, bare arms and chest as he stood to face the opposite side of the arena and the archway from which today's opponent would emerge. This was a personal ritual the seasoned warrior performed before every match he fought.

The mustiness of the Colosseum dirt would mix with the salty scent of his sweat as the fight progressed, a constant reminder of all of his past fights, motivating him to perform again and again.

It also acted as a sort of crude war paint, the sweat would make tracks through the fine layer of dust coating his body as it trickled down his face and shoulders. Each battle he fought left a different pattern, decided by the way his body moved as he exchanged blows.

The Colosseum itself was gargantuan.

An enormous elliptical stone structure built on towering columns and intricately detailed pillars that could seat tens of thousands. These numbers always amassed when the mighty E.N.D was rumoured to fight.

He was the people's favourite gladiator, always giving them an entertaining match before brutally ending it all, usually with a showy finishing blow.

He looked up to the tiers of seating and the waiting spectators. He could sense their excitement and it only fueled his anticipation and his need.

His appetite for violence was insatiable. Always itching for his next fight. Whether it be in the heat of battle, or in the case of the Colosseum, whoever or whatever had the terrible misfortune of being presented to him.

This particular gladiator took great pleasure in his craft.

E.N.D was a slave to the arena. To the uproarious cheers of the crowd as he fought. To the thunderous applause each time he defeated an opponent.

Some called him a demon –which, he kinda was, so the joke was on them really. Others called him the harbinger of death –which, in the case of those unlucky enough to catch him on a bad day, was also true.

No matter the name or phrase, the meaning behind his monikers was perfectly clear. Wherever E.N.D went, death and destruction followed in his wake.

His magic power and physical prowess enabled him to defeat any opponent he faced. Man or beast, or both. He was a gladiator of Tartaros, a large troupe of demon-gladiators based in the capital of Vistarion.

He was their leader, the strongest of the demons and the very best fighter in his country, perhaps even the best on the entire continent. The "almighty E.N.D" he was called. The pride of Alvarez.

Nothing could stand in his way.

The deafening roar of the crowd escalated yet again as he began to pace back and forth on his edge of the arena. Occasionally the gladiator would throw his arms wide and spin before the crowd, making gestures to further encourage their cheers.

The bloodthirsty symphony of ten thousand voices could be enough to unnerve the most seasoned of warriors, but it was music to his ears. It drove him, pushed him to fight harder.

The thrill of defeating other warriors was what he craved. It was like an addiction. This is what he was born to do, no, it was what he was made for.

The chase. The battle. The kill. It fueled the primal urges in his body and set fire to his blood.

Sometimes he fought outside of the arena too.

If any neighbouring countries looked to be getting too powerful, or if they didn't give in willingly to the emperor's demands the black mage was sure to smite them swiftly. E.N.D was the perfect tool for this, if ever the emperor wanted a problem dealt with quickly and efficiently he would call on his creation.

For he was an etherious, a demon created by the emperor Zeref.

E.N.D's role fighting in the arena as a gladiator was mostly to keep the people of Alvarez entertained. He didn't mind the task as it kept him busy doing something he enjoyed, fighting.

On the battlefield it was another story. He fought solely for his brother -the emperor's- will. This was less enjoyable as it often came with limitations, and E.N.D liked going all out in everything he did.

A sudden outburst of cheers erupted from the seats above, drawing him back to reality and he snapped his head up, looking to the opposite archway once more as his opponent entered the arena. Finally.

Clad in a black steel helmet and breastplate and carrying a large spiked metal club it was difficult to tell exactly who he would be facing. Judging by the hulking frame of the armoured gladiator he concluded at the very least that he was male.

Not that it mattered who was behind the mask. Whoever it was would end up being crushed, same as always.

He grinned.

E.N.D's specialty was fire magic and he took great pleasure in using his abilities to burn his opponents to ashes.

He felt the familiar buzzing thrum in his veins like the twang of a tightly wound string as he conjured his magic and held it at the brink, ready to be released in a fraction of a second if necessary.

He slowly prowled towards the centre of the arena, a sinister grin spread across his face, his pointed fangs the only indication of his demonic nature. The sandy dirt floor was soft against his bare feet and he curled his toes instinctively with each step, feeling the soft earth beneath to keep him grounded.

His opponent also lumbered towards him, his metal armour scraping where the seams met, grating on the demons nerves.

The two warriors reached the centre of the arena at the same moment. The more seasoned warrior's calculating eyes already darting over every single inch of his opponent now that he could see him better.

From the thick, dark mane of hair billowing out from beneath a shining onyx helmet to drape down his back, to a hulking frame and aggressive stance, E.N.D could already sense he was going to enjoy this battle immensely. His grin widened into something almost maniacal.

Somewhere off to the right a gong sounded the beginning of the match, E.N.D taking a reflexive step to the left and leaning his body to avoid an eager first swing from his opponent with that spiked metal club. His challenger was wasting no time in getting the fight started, something the demon appreciated.

Already recognising weaknesses in his opponent's moves and defensive stance, the demon decided to play a little with the slower, armor-clad figure for a while before ending it all with what would be an easily lethal blow.

Give the crowd more to cheer for.

He sidestepped again, to the right this time, avoiding a second swing of the club and almost laughing at the ungainly efforts of the gladiator before him.

Had this man even trained in an arena before?

His movements seemed to indicate not, as he began to steadily back the large man towards the edge of the Colosseum with his fists. Something a seasoned gladiator was trained to avoid as it led to too many disadvantages.

The demon's face pulled into a hard sneer as his fist lashed out with terrifying speed, landing a well placed strike into his opponent's ribs, steel armor denting with a dull clang under the force of the blow. His hand stung a little as he withdrew, but the dull pain only served to increase his adrenaline fueled excitement even further.

This was too easy. He hadn't even had to use magic yet.

The figure –definitely a man judging by his pained grunt– stumbled back against the edge of the arena momentarily before regaining his footing and charging at E.N.D once more, but the more seasoned gladiator was already expecting such a move.

Catching the spiked metal bat in his left hand with a barely audible hiss of pain as the sharp points dug into his skin, he ignored the blood that began to trickle down his forearm as he held it steady. The pink haired gladiator arced his right fist upward in a tight hook that connected underneath his opponents jaw with a satisfying crack.

The tall man grunted in pain and pulled back with a quick step, spitting some blood into the dirt in front of them before ripping his helmet off to reveal a harsh face.

Metal studs lined either side of his nose and were dotted across his chin and brow in the place of eyebrows. E.N.D couldn't help but sense a theme going on here and for the first time this match he was actually curious of what type of magic user this man was -if any.

"What's the matter big guy?" he sneered, leaning in closer to the hulking figure while goading him on, "had enough already?"

The large man in front of him responded by tossing his helmet to his left, dropping his bat and cracking his knuckles.

"In yer dreams ya little punk," he spat, and E.N.D couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement as a nasty smirk pulled his studded eyebrows into a V and twisted his mouth upwards, "I'm jus' gettin started".

The large man unfastened his -now dented- breastplate too then, letting it clatter unceremoniously to the floor to his right.

 _Oh yes_ , the demon's own smirk mirrored that of the fighter in front of him, eyes alight and sharp fangs bared, he was going to enjoy this _very_ much.

-[:¤:]-

"I've called you all here to inform you of Gajeel's successful arrival in Alvarez."

An ageing white haired man, with a deeply receding hairline and bushy white moustache, addressed the mages that stood behind the large desk in his cramped office. "I'm even told he is to fight his very first Gladiator match in the Vistarion Colosseum, against none other than E.N.D himself."

The mages in front of him collectively took sharp intakes of breath and began barking out a jumbled string of questions all at once.

The short statured man simply raised both hands to silence them, "my children, please-"

"Are you certain that this is the correct course of action Master?" an ever-serious redhead interrupted.

Her arms were crossed over her shining breastplate and her eyebrows were knitted together, a small frown pulling her red lips downwards, "surely there was no immediate need to endanger Gajeel's life by sending him to that place."

"We don't have time to argue the details now Erza," the tiny old man said, leaning back in his desk chair while stroking his moustache thoughtfully.

"Besides, it's done, he's gone, and we can't exactly get him back now without blowing his cover. And I'm sure you of all people understand the complications that would create."

The old man straightened up, planting both hands firmly on the table and looking around the room at the capable mages before him.

"My sources tell me that Zeref is planning something," his face scrunched up, making the folds of his wrinkles appear even deeper, "and I intend to keep an eye on the situation, just in case we will need to involve ourselves later."

He slammed one of his small fists against the table, causing everyone in the room to quiet down immediately and a few of them to jump, startled by the sudden gesture, "this is bigger than any one of us!," he cried frustratedly, "innocent lives could be at stake! And I will not simply sit back and do nothing when the worst dark wizard in history is potentially plotting the end of the world as we know it."

A scowling dark haired mage spoke next, unbuttoning his shirt and dropping it onto the floor as he did so, "did this source by any chance provide details on exactly what that evil bastard and his demon _pet_ might be planning?"

The old man opened his mouth and was about to answer but was again cut off, this time by a different voice.

"I seriously doubt it", a deep rumbling voice interjected with an air of disinterest.

The voice belonged to a towering blond haired man with a jagged scar across one eye, who, leaned in from the shadows in the corner of the room before adding, "your sources are never that reliable, are they Gramps?"

The master interlocked his fingers on the desk before him and looked up with a serious expression, "while it's true that we do not yet know the full details of the threat," he began looking around to them once more, "that is exactly why Gajeel volunteered to put himself in such a precarious position."

He flashed them a smile then, "have faith in Gajeel my children. With him keeping an eye on Zeref and E.N.D, he should be able to provide us with more details of their plans."

"Juvia knows Gajeel can take care of himself," a blue haired girl exclaimed, never removing her eyes from the –now shirtless– dark haired man who had spoken before, "Juvia believes in Gajeel and everyone else should too!"

"Juvia is right," a tall girl with long silver hair spoke, her voice seeming to have a calming effect the others in the room, "Gajeel is one of Fairy Tail's strongest mages and he is a good person. I'm sure he will do his best for the guild and the rest of Fiore."

The rest of the mages in the room murmured their agreement and the old man sighed as he leaned back into his chair. At least he finally had their agreement.

He cleared his throat, "alright, now out of my office all of you! I expect you all to work hard too!"

Once they had all filed out of the small room he couldn't keep a small frown from creeping onto his weathered face.

Gajeel was no doubt having a tough time right now. If the rumors were true about the demon E.N.D, he may very well be fighting for his life. He sighed again and returned to his paperwork.

There was no use worrying now, all he could do was wait for Gajeel's first communication, and hope for the best.

-[:¤:]-

Meanwhile, Gajeel was beginning to think that he had seriously underestimated the challenge this pink haired brat would present.

He had finally managed to skirt himself away from the outside edge of the Colosseum by taking a few quick steps to the right and twisting to the side while meagerly fending off another hit from that bastard.

He knew he was in trouble when he was barely matching his opponents blows and the annoying little punk hadn't even used any magic yet.

Well, Gajeel hadn't exactly used any either, but that was more because he couldn't keep up rather than him holding back.

So far their fight had consisted mainly of hand to hand combat, with lots of swift kicks and bloody fists.

He had already tossed his helmet aside and abandoned his preferred weapon, a spiked metal bat, as both only served to slow him down and this "E.N.D" was proving to be too good a fighter for Gajeel to let him have any unnecessary advantages.

Yes. He sighed, Gajeel knew who he faced.

As if the crowd would let him forget. Their constant chants of "E-N-D, E-N-D" echoing all around this bloody huge arena and making his ears ache –or maybe that was just an ache from the fist he hadn't managed to avoid a minute ago. But he had also been warned of the demon by master Makarov back at the guild.

" _The mighty E.N.D_ " they called him. Gajeel scoffed, he couldn't see what all the fuss was about. The famous gladiator was just a kid of average height, not much to him in the way of muscle or bulk, and what was with that ridiculous pink hair anyway?

The old man had been very serious when he told him to be cautious not to anger this particular demon, as he was known to have killed opponents in the arena before. Opponents that were not only strong, but had trained in Colosseum fighting for most of their lives.

Gajeel hadn't trained in one at all before coming to Alvarez and had only been told some basics by his handler when he had first arrived. Which he was beginning to realise was really not enough for a professional fight like this. He was actually a little surprised that his cover hadn't been blown then and there.

He shook his head, _Don't get distracted Gajeel_. Even if the kid looked harmless enough, his sheer physical strength and fighting skill proved otherwise. Not to mention the way his eyes glinted maliciously and his lips curved up into that creepy smirk every time he landed a hit that made Gajeel involuntarily grunt in pain.

This bastard enjoyed inflicting pain.

Gajeel was used to pain by now, the mage had been fighting on the streets for most of his life before meeting _them_. He had spent his younger years through to his early teens moving between gangs, participating in meaningless crime and never really fitting in anywhere.

When he had been found by the old man, rummaging through a dumpster for some food after getting kicked out of yet another gang for disobeying orders, he had been offered a second chance at life. With the promise of a warm bed, food and a roof over his head seeming too good to be true Gajeel had been hesitant to go with him at first.

Eventually, when he had become hungry enough to ignore his distrusting nature and shown up at their door, they had taken him in and shown him all the kindness and generosity he could never have dreamt of while living on the streets.

Gajeel had made a promise to himself that day to repay that debt with his absolute loyalty and respect for the rest of his life.

For now though, he needed to focus solely on not getting killed.

"All right," the black haired mage shouted over the deafening roars of the spectators in the tiered stone benches above them, "guess nows'a good a time as any to kick yer ass pinky!"

E.N.D just stood firmly in place, feet planted apart in a wide stance and fists balled at either sides of his body, his chest puffed out slightly in defiance, and with that ever cocky grin still spread across his face.

Gajeel grit his teeth, he just wanted to use his fist to wipe it off of his stupid face.

He lunged forward into a run towards his opponent, black hair whipping behind his head, he quickened his pace as he felt his magic being pulled from within. The black haired mage was could not wait to teach this punk a lesson.

When he felt his magic reach a point that it was ready to burst from his body, Gajeel channeled it into covering his arms and face in irons scales. They rippled out from beneath his skin, shining subtly where the flickering yellow torchlight circling the arena contacted them, and causing many in the seats above to gasp at his sudden transformation.

 _Good_ , Gajeel thought, _Let them watch now as I teach their beloved E.N.D a lesson he won't soon forget._

"Iron dragon's sword!" the big man roared, his right arm quickly transforming into a long blade with razor sharp teeth along its edges.

He reached E.N.D a fraction of a second later, whose smirk seemed marginally less pronounced than it had been, the pink haired demon's eyes tightening at the corners and becoming more focused as he jerked both fists up from his sides with blinding speed to cross in front of his face, right before Gajeel's sword connected.

Had he actually surprised him?

Gajeel hoped so.

His hope was short lived, however, when he realised that E.N.D's arms had suddenly caught fire and successfully blocked his attack without so much as a scratch.

Gajeel then found himself being flung backwards, the fire mage using his crossed arms to his advantage. The demon channeled the momentum of dragging them apart into an uncrossed position coupled with a forward thrust to throw his opponent off with terrifying ease.

 _Damn,_ Gajeel thought as his whole body was pushed backwards, he was good.

Gajeel hit the floor a few meters back, barely regaining his footing but somehow managing to stumble into a defensive stance while he re-centred himself. He looked over to the fire mage, trying to asses how much damage his opponent had taken compared to him so far.

Shit. Why didn't that pink haired brat seem to have a scratch on him?

Gajeel knew he had gotten in some hits earlier that would shatter most ordinary people's bones. But the fire mage seemed unfazed by any of it.

He himself could feel every new bruise from where the other gladiator had struck his body before he'd transformed. His muscles were aching from the strain of fast paced hand to hand combat. The iron dragon slayer knew he was already beginning to tire.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, the black haired mage decided that his best course of action would be to proceed with attacks from back here for the time being, E.N.D was just too physically strong to get into more close quarters combat when he was already this battered from their earlier brawl.

Maybe he could re-engage his opponent face to face once he had weakened him a little from a distance first.

"So, you're an iron dragon slayer eh?" E.N.D guffawed, even having the nerve to hunch over with his hands planted firmly on either thigh while he laughed.

"What's so funny brat?" Gajeel seethed, his red eyes narrowing into slits.

How dare this kid make a fool out of him.

Rising to once again meet Gajeel's eyes with that same annoying smirk, the fire mage just said, "Nothin'".

Gajeel's rage intensified and he prepared his next attack. Planting his feet shoulder width apart and inhaling deeply he bellowed "Iron Dragon's roar", releasing a powerful tornado from his mouth that glittered as it carried sharp metal fragments, hurtling towards the fire mage.

Mimicking the iron dragon slayers stance exactly and gulping a large mouthful of air E.N.D countered, "Fire Dragon's ROARRRR!" his voice boomed, the force of his billowing fire tornado crashing into Gajeel's iron one and causing the very foundations of the Colosseum to shake.

The crowd screamed in unison as their stone seats shuddered beneath them and dust from stone rubbing against stone swirled around them. One unlucky spectator lost his balance completely and ended up plummeting to his death from 3 tiers up. Gajeel's stomach reeled and he abruptly turned his head away from the fleshy corpse that had landed not 10 feet away from him, mentally trying not to gag.

No wonder E.N.D had found his magic so damn funny. He had known the demon used some kind of fire powers from the rumors, but he never imagined the bastard would use the same type of magic he did!

Damn it!

That was supposed to be his trump card.

Dragon slaying magic of any kind was incredibly rare. He had only ever met one other with the same style – and she was nothing like this beast. And since when did demons know dragon magic anyway? Didn't they generally use curses rather than magic?

Once the blast from their combined magical attacks had dissipated, the pink haired slayer remained standing in his breath attack stance, his black beady eyes narrowed, throwing Gajeel a glare so cold that it caused the iron dragon slayer to shiver involuntarily.

The smirk from earlier had been wiped clean off E.N.D's face, in its place had materialised a much more serious look. Gajeel had gotten his wish, but he wasn't sure he like this look much better.

The demon's lips were pulled together into a hard line, his eyes had narrowed into black slits and his brows were furrowed in what Gajeel assumed must be...anger?

Oh great. Now he'd pissed him off.

Just wonderful.

Well, there was nothing else for it. He would have to use his brains as well as his brawn if he was going to win this thing.

Not that he was a great strategist –he usually relied solely on his fists to finish a job like this– but it was clear that this adversary was too strong for even Gajeel to beat head-on, alone at least.

Gathering what little stamina he had left the iron dragon slayer surged towards E.N.D once more, his magic transforming both of his arms into long iron clubs as he ran.

Reaching the pink haired demon in a matter of seconds he feigned a swing with his right club that the fire mage moved to block as before, except Gajeel veered off at the last instant, rolling to his opponent's left and emerging at his back and rising with a wide sweeping arc of his left arm that succeeded in knocking the fire dragon slayer off of his feet.

E.N.D didn't give the iron dragon slayer a moment to celebrate his small victory, however, leaping from the ground and thrashing his arms through the air in a circular pattern as he twisted his body to face the black haired mage once more shouting, "FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!".

Long, vicious streams of flame-like whips erupted from his hands and struck Gajeel across the chest, the impact sending him flying backwards and crashing to the hard ground with blunt force.

The iron dragon slayer just lay there, unable to move his bruised and battered body and, slowly, the iron scales began to recede from his skin. Every part of his body was aching, the physical exhaustion finally reaching a limit he couldn't push past.

At least his scales had saved him from getting burned.

The last thing he saw before his vision blurred was that smug pink haired bastard actually _waving_ to the crowd as he stalked over to where he lay. The nerve of this guy.

Gajeel slipped out of consciousness then, deaf to even the roaring cheers of the crowd as his eyes slid shut and his body slumped further into the dirt.

-[:¤:]-


	2. Period

Thank you so much to everyone who left encouraging reviews for me;

~ Alaya Karangalan ~ An Amber Pen ~ tkitty23 ~ Penguin ~ sarara1.8 ~ DIGIKO12 ~ Where are we Goghing ~

It means a lot and helps keep me motivated to continue the story! :)

~ DorkyMonster707 ~ Oh ye of little faith, I would never kill of a character in the second chapter of a story… Or would I? :)

...on to the next chapter!

* * *

 **Period**

 _Belonging to or characteristic of a past historical time, especially in style or design._

* * *

E.N.D raised his arms in victory and he turned in a circle to take in the sights and sounds of the crowd above. They were all calling his name like a prayer, chanting for their champion.

It had been a while since he had enjoyed a fight as much as that one. His heart was still thumping wildly with the post match excitement and adrenaline.

The other dragon slayer – currently laying limp at his feet – had been quite the worthy challenger in the end.

His initial observations regarding the large man's obvious lack of training in an arena type setting had undoubtedly proven to be his biggest weakness. Aside from that he was pretty quick on his feet, and definitely one of the stronger men the demon had faced.

He could even feel the aching burn of a few bruised ribs on his left side, where the black haired man had snuck inside his defences and placed a well angled strike with his leg.

And he certainly hadn't expected to be knocked off his feet by those iron clubs.

The gladiator made a mental note to thank his brother for that entertainment later. No doubt he had arranged the match especially, to give the demon the challenge he had been practically begging for after a few months of too-easy prey.

He looked down to the now partially dried blood on his hands and grinned, the sight of someone else's blood, blood that he had spilled, always filled him with a strange sense of satisfaction and pride.

He waved to the crowd once more and began to stride towards the large archway that was his exit from the colosseum.

He was famished after all that effort and could already practically taste the large banquet of roasted meats that would be waiting for him in his personal chambers.

His mouth filled with saliva at the thought of well charred lamb shanks and turkey legs and all the other delicious meats he would soon gorge himself on.

It wasn't just his appetite for violence that was insatiable.

A large bouquet of wildflowers thrown from a member of the audience above landed at his feet and nearly tripped him up. He shook his head violently at the sudden interruption to his thoughts, realising his mouth had partially opened as he daydreamed and he suddenly had another fight on his hands, this time to stop the drool from escaping.

There were flowers and other tributes strewn all around the edges of the arena. Gifts from his fans, who no doubt wanted to thank him in some small way for his performance.

The demon didn't belittle himself by picking them up, however, one of his servants would collect all of the tributes after he had left.

The flowers – which he had no need for – would be burned. Any other items of value would be laid out for him in his room after dinner.

His feet found purchase on rough concrete as he passed through the archway. The stark contrast of the hard, damp ground to the soft sand of the arena floor against his still bare feet sobered him up.

And then he was hit by the smell.

As he made his way deeper into the underground structure below the colosseum the mustiness grew stronger. Down here in the depths where little to no natural light could penetrate all of the grey stone walls were forever damp and mouldy.

Torches illuminated the path before him, flickering dully and casting dancing shadows all about the tight hallway. He wrinkled his nose as it was assaulted even further by the putrid stench of rotting flesh, mixed in with human and animal waste. A smell that even the hardened demon could not become accustomed to, no matter how many times he walked through here after a match.

The subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena was made up of two-levels. The upper level – which he now walked through – was comprised mainly of hollowed out walls separated by iron bars. These "cells" served as housing for the prisoners and slaves who basically served as sacks of meat for the arena's savage butchery.

Those who couldn't pay their taxes, who refused to serve in the Alvarez army, who spoke badly of the emperor and those who were caught for petty crimes, such as theft, were all banished down here. They were promised a chance to win back their freedom for their service in the arena. An empty, false promise. The people down here were under no delusions that to fight in the arena was like being handed a death sentence.

Some other small rooms on this level held various weapons and armour, each with varying degrees of rust and wear. Nothing befitting a proper gladiator, of course, but enough to obscure the fact that the "meat-men" – as they were not so delicately nicknamed by the other gladiators – were not even given the slightest of chances before entering the arena proper.

As he hit the end of the narrow corridor he could just make out the cells lining both sides of the large rooms. Within them sat dirty men and women crouched in tattered rags, some of them as young as early teens.

All of them seemed to posses the same dark, hollow eyes staring out at him. No doubt resigned to their fate.

He looked away.

The demon was secretly glad he didn't have to fight them. There was no glory, no _pleasure_ , in taking worthless lives such as theirs so easily.

On the level below were caged exotic animals, cared for and fed – at least, as long as they survived the arena – along with some storage for props and set pieces. Basically anything to make the production of violence more entertaining.

He looked around – anywhere but at those hollow eyes – his eyes catching on the vertical shafts concealed by hinged, wooden boarded trap doors that were scattered throughout the place. They provided instant access to the arena for the men, women or children on this level as well as what lay below.

He also took notice of the pulleys and other contraptions around him. During days of entertainment, slaves would work elaborate mechanical devices, designed to move animals, large props and 'meat-men' to the main floor of the colosseum through the trap doors when the time came.

He lengthened his strides through this section of the tunnels, criss-crossing down the winding paths hastily until he reached his exit. All of a sudden the hairs on his arms and legs were standing on edge and he couldn't wait to be out of here.

Ascending the tunnel ahead would lead him directly into the palace, where he stayed with the emperor. His pace quickened again when he spotted the wide patch of light opening up before him, increasing in size with every hurried step.

The fire dragon slayer knew of a number of exit routes from the colosseum to the outside that he could take to avoid seeing and smelling the lost souls with their haunting eyes residing down here, but this was the fastest way back to his rooms – and to the comfort he was so used too.

None of the other Tartaros gladiators stayed in the palace. There were separate barracks – also lavishly furnished and with their own slaves – to the east of the colosseum. The demons residing there could enter the arena via different tunnels, devoid of the reality of it all, something E.N.D envied at this moment.

After what seemed like an eternity he broke out into fresh air on the western edge of the colosseum, the foul odours left far behind him and the fresh scent of flowers from the gardens ahead quickly washing away all memory of them.

A few hundred meters of cobblestone path decoratively lined by elaborately shaped hedges stretched out before him. Then he would be back to his rooms and the feast that awaited.

He openly drooled at the thought of it, and this time he didn't bother hiding it or wiping it away.

-[:¤:]-

Gray paced. His bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor of the apartment with his heavy footfalls. A scowl was etched deeply into his usually calm features as he dropped his freshly unbuttoned shirt on the floor beside him.

He was so pissed off by this whole 'gajeel being all heroic by leaving for Alvarez on a secret mission' bullshit, that he didn't even notice the bluenette watching him quietly from the doorframe of their bedroom.

Juvia was worried about that metal munching asshole, he just knew it. She hadn't been herself since they had all received the shocking news from Master Makarov a week ago.

He could still see the scene play out if he closed his eyes. The water mage had not taken the news very well at all, turning even more ghostly pale than her normally very fair complexion and leaving the room without saying a word.

Gray knew she was probably the closest friend Gajeel had – other than Levy of course – due to their shared history on the streets before coming to fairy tail.

Juvia thought of Gajeel almost like a brother. Hence why he was so pissed at the dragon slayer for leaving without at least warning her, or saying goodbye. The bastard.

He was going to have to beat some sense into that black haired idiot when he got back... _if_ he got back.

He froze, jolted out of his thoughts when a pair of slender arms snaked their way around his torso and he felt a familiar warmth press into his back. A soft, almost musical voice murmured, "is everything ok Gray-sama?" breaking the heavy silence.

Her breath fanned across his spine, tickling his skin and leaving a warm, damp trail that made him shiver involuntarily.

He let out a lengthy exhale and turned to face the bluenette, taking her in his arms as he spoke into her soft hair, "are _you_ ok Juvia?"

He pulled away from her slightly, holding her just short of arm's length to look her in the eyes, "You haven't been acting like yourself, and I was just thinking about how hard I'm going to pound some sense into a certain metal studded face for hurting you…" he trailed off when he noticed she was smiling up at him.

She had such a beautiful smile, it crinkled the corners of her eyes and they deepened into an even darker shade of blue somehow, it reminded him of a midnight sky. He could get lost in those eyes.

"Everything is ok with Juvia," she assured him, reaching up on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his forehead, "Juvia is sorry she made Gray worry about her," she frowned, and Gray wanted more than anything for the smile to be back.

He pulled her into a tight embrace, his chin resting on the crown of her head as he held her in silence for a while. The ice mage wasn't all that great with words, but he knew Juvia was better at sensing his emotions than anyone.

"Let's get some rest Gray-sama," she whispered after a few minutes.

"Alright," he replied.

He kissed her tenderly and let her lead him into the bedroom by the hand, watching the curls of her long hair swaying across her shoulders in the breeze coming in through an open window nearby.

Once they were comfortably settled in bed and Juvia was sleeping peacefully beside him, Gray found himself unable to drift off. So he just lay awake, listening to her soft breaths... inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

And it was then, staring up at the ceiling in the darkness, that he realised it. He was worried about that damn metal head too.

And if E.N.D was as formidable as the rumours suggested, he just hoped the iron dragon slayer would make it out of there alive.

-[:¤:]-

After scrubbing his skin raw, in a bath so hot it would scald most people – his brother insisted that he be meticulously clean at all times in his presence – E.N.D called his personal slaves to arrange his formal robes in the style the emperor preferred.

The billowing robes were navy blue with a gold trim, covering far more skin than the pink haired demon liked. The soft cloth wrapped in all directions around his body like some sort of semi-masculine dress.

But he had no say in the matter of course.

What his brother wanted, he got.

The demon had learned very early on that attempting to defy Zeref resulted in the cruelest punishment he could imagine. A particularly nasty curse that stole his ability to move his body or use any magic, basically rendering him a useless vegetable.

He had experienced this particular form of torture once in the past, after defying a direct order on the battlefield.

Zeref had demanded he pull back and let the other, lesser demons, take care of the destruction of a small guild hall. He had wanted E.N.D to pursue a strong, shadow type mage who opposed them instead.

But the pink haired demon was obsessed with fire and destruction, and so, naturally, he had remained and blown the entire building to bits with his fire magic. He foolishly thought that Zeref wouldn't find out, so long as he also completed his assigned manhunt.

How very wrong he had been.

Somehow Zeref knew he had gone against his orders – probably thanks to that creepy suck up, _Mard Geer_ – and when they arrived back home his brother had called him into his chambers and rendered him a paralyzed potato.

The only thing that wasn't affected by the curse was his mind, it had raced in a blind panic for months. He had been fully aware of his body just lying there, paralyzed, not knowing if he would ever be able to move again. Not knowing if he would ever feel alive again or use his magic.

Six agonising months passed before Zeref had released him from the prison that he had made of the demon's own body.

From that day on he had never defied his master again.

Yes, his brother, with his terrifyingly powerful black magic, was E.N.D's master.

Ultimately, he was the black wizards puppet. His strings tweaked and manipulated, forcing the fire mage to dance or flail however the emperor pleased.

Something the gladiator tried his best not to think about.

It was best just to make the most of his – currently – long leash and enjoy the opportunity to destroy anything and everything he wanted, as long as his brother hadn't ordered him otherwise.

His steps echoed as he sauntered down the long marble floored corridor, not even sparing a passing glance to one of the many palace slaves that tried and failed to make themselves scarce as the mighty E.N.D approached.

For all his brothers insistence on extravagance, the fire mage would never understand how Zeref was satisfied with plain marble floors when all the other castles and estates he had visited covered their cold floors in soft, flamboyant, carpets and rugs.

He reached the large polished cedar doors that led to his brothers innermost chambers and waited to be announced by the guard that stood to attention to the left of the brass doorknobs.

The demon failed to see how such measures were even necessary, when the 400 year old immortal mage commanded enough power to obliterate a small army with ease.

He supposed it must have something to do with tradition, or some similarly boring pursuit.

The guard turned away from him without uttering a word – or blinking, it seemed – and rapped one of the polished brass knobs against the door three times. The door knobs themselves were large lion heads, their shining sculpted mouths open with bared teeth in what could only be a roar, or a yawn, maybe.

The doors promptly swung open, almost as if someone had been waiting expectantly on the other side, and the guard cleared his throat before announcing in a deep commanding voice, "E.N.D, your majesty."

"Enter," he heard called from inside the room.

The demon strode past the guard – making sure to trip him over in the process – and into the large study in which his brother spent most of his time. Bookshelves lined the walls all the way to the ceilings, filled to the brim with ancient texts and volumes, many with words so big and in so many languages, both current and forgotten, that it made his head hurt just glimpsing them.

Thankfully he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"I need you to take care of a little problem for me," Zeref said in his usual deadpan, not even looking up as he turned the page of the research journal he was writing in, "for someone as powerful as you it shouldn't pose a challenge."

E.N.D knew he couldn't refuse a direct order from his brother and creator, and the fire mage would never turn down an opportunity to wreak havoc, but, he wondered why he had been _specifically_ selected for a task if it wasn't all that important.

He decided to ask this very question, as directly as he dared. "My lord," he paused, turning over his hand pretending to inspect the back of it as if in indifference, "if it's no challenge, why send me?"

The emperor didn't even flinch at his brothers impertinent question, simply replying, "one can leave nothing to chance," never lifting his pen, or his eyes, from the paper in front of him.

Taking that as the only answer he was going to get on that matter from his ever secretive master, E.N.D moved to sit in the lavish hardwood bench seat covered in deep red velvet cushions that sat in front of the large mahogany desk behind which the black haired emperor was seated.

His brother had _unusual_ taste in style.

The legs of his large desk were carved to resemble slaves. Struggling to hold the deep red wood up on broad shoulders, their crooked backs marked with scars from more than a few lashings.

"I suppose I have you to thank for that fight earlier." It wasn't so much a question as a means of breaking the uncomfortable silence that had a tendency to linger whenever he was unfortunate enough to spend any extended period of time in Zeref's presence.

"Yes," was all he got from the man in front of him. The emperor continued writing without another word, his face as blank as an empty canvas, devoid of all emotion.

It was sometimes hard to believe that Zeref was his elder brother, they looked very similar in age – probably because the black wizard had stopped aging at around the same age the demon was now.

But, for a man who looked so young he was actually centuries old, and after one lived that long… well, time didn't hold the same meaning.

The black wizard tended to do things at his own pace. Something E.N.D had come to learn over the years working for him.

So, he crossed his legs and waited patiently – or at least, as patiently as he could – for Zeref to reveal more details of his assignment.

"You will be travelling to Ishgar-" his brother began after some minutes, the fire dragon slayers curiosity getting the better of him as he interjected, "Ishgar?" his eyebrows shooting up under his pink bangs, tone incredulous.

"Do not speak out of turn" the black wizard raised his hand, palm facing his brother, a slight change in his tone warning of his rising anger and promising punishment should the demon disobey.

"Apologies, your majesty" the demon bowed low in his seat, pink hair falling in front of his eyes and barely obscuring his sneer.

"There is a girl who has something I need, you are to find her and bring her to me _unharmed_ ," the fire mage didn't like the way he emphasised that part, like he was destined to fail at this simple mission.

"I'm sure I don't have to remind you of the punishment should you fail me?" An obvious threat, and one that he was all too ready to take seriously.

When he thought about it, it might actually be nice to get out of the country for a while, to stretch his limbs, see the world, it could be an adventure. With the added possibility of burning some stuff along the way...

Yes.

E.N.D was starting to like the idea of this mission more and more. But how was he supposed to find whoever it was without a name, or at the very least some way of sniffing her out?

Not wanting to seem too eager, he concentrated on picking at his fingernails as he asked, "How will I find this girl?"

"I have left more details of the assignment with Mard-" _great, just perfect,_ the demon openly cringed and clenched his fangs at the mention of that idiotic-power-hungry-pretty-boy's name, "-see to it that you see him after this and prepare accordingly for the journey ahead of you."

The demon begrudgingly nodded, resigning himself to having to interact with that walking annoyance who took his job far too seriously.

Still not looking up from his desk the black wizard added, "you are dismissed."

E.N.D rose to leave, but before he could make it back through the door Zeref's voice floated over to him, holding within it the slightest hint of malice, "oh, and brother-"

He turned around to look at his the emperor, who had stopped writing and was now fixing him with a blank faced stare, "don't disappoint me."

He bowed again, lower this time, and slowly backed out of the room.

-[:¤:]-

Gajeel awoke with the headache of his life.

Not only that, but every inch of his body felt like it was getting poked by hot needles.

He gingerly attempted to sit up, hissing through gritted teeth as he slowly managed to prop himself up on his elbows.

It felt like he had been hit by the magnolia express at full speed. And even with the enhanced healing ability afforded by his magic, well, he felt like shit.

That E.N.D really was something else.

Gajeel had been in many fights before – especially before joining fairy tail – but none had ever left him this badly banged up.

He carefully peeled back the covers to inspect his battered body. Most of his visible skin was covered in deep purple bruises and scratches, some areas were even wrapped up with bandages, and, judging by how painful it was to sit up just now, the iron dragon slayer was certain that at least a few of his ribs were broken.

He huffed, which caused him to once again hiss with pain, and gently lay back down to rest as comfortably as he could on the soft pillows. At least Makarov's contact in Alvarez had been gracious enough to provide him with a decent bed and quarters for this particular assignment.

The iron dragon slayer was here under the guise of training to become a world class Gladiator.

His _real_ mission was a lot more in depth.

Gajeel commonly took missions directly from the ageing fairy tail guild master. Jobs that required his special skillset. Jobs that were never made entirely _official,_ and some that only he and the old man were even aware of to begin with.

In his many years living on the streets Gajeel had made ties with a couple of dark guilds, which came in handy when dealing with these _unofficial_ missions from time to time.

Now though, he was completely reliant on Makarov's "friend", who called himself "Jariah" – it was obvious to the iron mage that he kept his real name a secret, probably for safety purposes.

So far the grey haired old wretch had kept up his end of the bargain.

However, that match with END had been arranged far sooner than Gajeel or Makarov had anticipated.

Gajeel had thought he would have at least a little time to hone his near non-existent skills fighting in an arena.

Heck! He'd barely had to lift a club in his last few brawls on missions. Most wannabes these days just didn't pose a challenge for someone of his size and skill.

Sometimes the stupid little troublemakers were even scared off by his appearance alone, even before he had a chance to uncross his arms.

But, the fire dragon slayer.. Demon… whatever he was, had been in an entirely different class. Sure, Gajeel would probably have stood a far better chance in a fight against him in a street brawl – the brat was powerful, but not _unbeatable_ – but in the colosseum, it was clear that the demon had been in his element.

And so, the iron dragon slayer now found himself here, stuck in bed for Mavis knows how long…

He had to get on with his real mission as soon as possible. If the old man was right – and he usually was with this sort of thing – many lives could depend on his success.

The iron mage reached over and grasped a small cup that sat on a little stone table beside his bed. One sniff with the heightened sense of smell his dragon-like abilities granted him revealed that it was a common sleeping serum that he had used many times in hospitals before, usually when recovering from a brawl gone badly.

He held the rim of the cup to his lips and tipped it up as best he could in his half laying position, chugging the whole thing down, not bothering to wipe away the small amount that escaped his mouth to dribble down his chin.

Once he could feel the drug begin to take effect, numbing his mind and his aching body, the fairy tail mages eyes closed once more and he lifted his arm to rest over his face, drifting off into a restless sleep.


	3. Gnomon

**Gnomon**

 _The projecting piece on a sundial that shows the time by the position of its shadow._

* * *

Lucy was beginning to deeply regret taking this job with Levy.

When her blue haired best friend had first waved the slightly crinkled job request in front of her at the guildhall it hadn't seemed all that bad.

Beat some low level monster, collect an enchanted artifact, return said artifact to client, yada yada yada. It looked like a piece of cake.

It had only taken their combined intellect a day of effort to research said artifact and locate the ruins that most likely housed the item.

A few hours travel by train and another few days on foot without incident and they had reached their destination.

Unfortunately, things had begun to go wrong as soon as they reached the ruins of the 400 year old pyramidal temple.

The instant she had set foot inside the first room Lucy had stepped on a loose circular stone, setting off a trap that opened up a large gaping hole in the ground beneath their feet, causing herself and the blue haired mage to plummet to the hard stone floor below.

A thick cloud of dust to billowed up around them at the force of their landing, coating their clothes and faces in a thick layer of grime and making them cough and splutter in a feeble attempt to refill their lungs with stale air in the depths of the ancient stone building.

But the blonde haired mage was still counting her blessings – at least there hadn't been spikes at the bottom of the pit!

That sentiment, it appeared, was mirrored by Levy. Standing up and dusting herself off she coughed, "well at least we didn't land on a pile of rocks or something," she shot her blonde companion a wry smile, "and I don't think anything's broken, how about you?"

"Owww," Lucy whimpered, rising slowly and arching her back with hands planted on both hips before brushing the dirt off of her arms and legs, "I feel like I just finished a lonnnng training session with Erza," she shuddered at the thought, "except, maybe fewer bruises."

Levy laughed at that, her spirits seemingly unmarred by their impromptu tumble.

"Aww man," Lucy whined, her eyes scanning over her now filthy and torn yellow and blue long sleeved crop and mini skirt with a pout, "my outfit's ruined! And I only just picked it up too."

"Sorry for not being more careful Lev," the blonde looked over to the blue haired mage who was already busy studying the engravings on the wall in front of where they had landed.

"it's not your fault," she replied absently, waving away her friends guilt without looking up, "you couldn't have know that there would be a trap right inside the first doorway."

Trust Levy to already be completely engrossed in studying an ancient language on the walls of this creepy old temple after a fall like that. Sometimes it seemed that nothing could prevent her friend from pursuing knowledge, especially when it concerned ancient languages.

"Could you pass me the torch Lu?" Levy asked excitedly, gesturing for Lucy to join her over by the wall, "I think I may have found something interesting!"

Lucy couldn't help but admire her friends resilience, personally she was already dreaming of being back home, soaking in a warm bath with plenty of bubbles…

She shook her head, she needed to stay focused in this unknown environment.

Sighing, the blonde rummaged through her small pack for her lacrima powered torch, turning it on with a click of the small round button on the side.

Lucy was glad for lacrima powered torches, gone were the days of the old style flame torches, the smoke trailing behind it and into your face if held directly in front of you. This was much more practical in her opinion.

She pointed it towards Levy as she approached, angling the beam of light downwards so she didn't blind her blue haired best friend accidentally.

The solid script mage was already busy with her notebook, her tongue peeking out from the corner of her lips just the tiniest bit as her face scrunched in concentration.

Her right hand scurried across the page at lightning speed, sketching the intricate symbols of the ancient text with perfect precision. Occasionally she would pause to take notes or squint closely at a more faded area of text on the weathered wall in front of her.

Lucy hated to interrupt when her friend was this focused, but her curiosity got the better of her. "So, what did you find Lev?" she stood beside the bluenette, eyes scanning over the unfamiliar text and patterns displayed on the otherwise smooth stone wall.

"Oh, it's just so fascinating Lu! Look here," her friend stood on tiptoe, pointing to a short row of symbols just out of reach, "I'm not one hundred percent certain, but from my rough translation of these particular characters I believe this text refers to 'the passage of time'-"

The blue haired mage dragged her finger downwards, delicately tracing over a large circular pattern within which were carved twelve smaller circles each holding a unique symbol inside their perimeter, "-which, I'm guessing, relates to this image."

"Passage of time?" Lucy's forehead scrunched thoughtfully, "I wonder why whoever designed this place would bother putting this here?"

"I'm not sure," her friend had resumed sketching the image in as much detail as possible, "but it seems to be quite important."

It seemed strange to Lucy that someone would go to the trouble of carving important text into a wall right inside the pitfall, but she would defer to Levy's judgement on this, the solid script mage wasn't known as the brightest scholar in Fairy Tail for nothing.

"Alright!" Levy exclaimed happily, "I'm done sketching. Shall we head deeper in and search for the artifact?"

"Sure," Lucy laughed at how eager her friend was to explore, "the sooner we get out of here the sooner I can have a nice hot bath!"

-[:¤:]-

As they made their way deeper into the ancient stone structure the passageway became more and more stuffy and overgrown with plant life.

It still amazed Lucy that any life could thrive in an environment like this, without any sunlight or fresh air or an obvious source of water.

But, life could be strange like that. You could find signs of it in almost every nook and cranny on the planet if you took the time.

Personally, if she were a plant, she wouldn't want to be so trapped. She would prefer to spend her days growing on an open field somewhere with full exposure to the sun and wind and rain.

That way she would be free.

Having grown up in a wealthy household, Lucy knew the bounds of captivity all too well. In her youth she had often felt like a prisoner in her own home.

Being forced to attend her lessons and become a "proper lady" didn't leave much time for meeting new friends or pursuing her own interests.

Not to mention that her parents estate had been so large, and so far out from any towns, that there were no children her own age for her to play with even if she did have the free time.

Back then Lucy had always been alone.

Her only companions were her maids and her mother's spirit Aquarius, and, she certainly hadn't liked Lucy very much back then.

OK, maybe she still didn't like Lucy very much. It was hard to tell with the feisty blue haired mermaid spirit, who was either constantly berating Lucy or trying to drown her whenever the celestial mage called her on missions…

Her previous experience with loneliness was probably why she loved the loud and boisterous energy of the guild so much. It was the complete opposite of her childhood home.

Lucy felt like her life hadn't truly begun until she had finally left home at age 18 and joined Fairy Tail.

Her father had been trying to force an arranged marriage with one of his business associates. A much older man than Lucy, who always smelled so strongly of sandalwood cologne that it made her stomach churn to even be in the same room as him.

She had made up her mind after the fourth forced dinner date with that horrible man.

She had been escorting him out of her father's mansion for the evening when he had grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her flush against his body and groping her while he whispered disgusting things in her ear.

She had struggled to break free from his grip, eventually wriggling her body away from his, but before she could move away completely he had threatened her.

She remembered it vividly, his threat that if she didn't comply with his wants like a 'good little wife' that her life would become a living hell. She had turned her back to him then and run inside crying, snagging her dress on the edge of the staircase and tearing it. The sound of the fabric ripping was still clear in her memory.

Lucy cringed just remembering it.

Her joining Fairy Tail hadn't happened by chance either.

Lucy had always admired the guild from afar. She had been reading about it's members and their exploits in Sorcerer Weekly since she had first subscribed to the magazine behind her father's back at fifteen.

Magic had always been one of those interests that she had not had time to really pursue or practice up until she left home. But it was one of the only things she had left that helped her feel close to her late mother. That, and the letters she would write each month telling her mother about all of her adventures in her new life.

As soon as she left home Lucy had headed to Fairy Tail. Stepping inside the guild doors and taking in the scene of an all out brawl hadn't even frightened her, instead she had bent over her knees and laughed and laughed.

It was just so... Fairy Tail.

It was like the pages of her magazines had come alive right before her eyes and Lucy had never been happier than the moment the barmaid, Mirajane – one of Lucy's idols – had approached her as she lingered in the doorway and welcomed her to Fairy Tail.

The rest was history. She was now a full fledged member of the guild and the other members were like her family.

Lucy stretched her hand out before her, eyeing her pink guild mark fondly in the dim light, a smile crept onto her face.

She looked to Levy, whose eyes were darting back and forth – no doubt taking in every little detail etched into the walls they passed – and her grin widened. The blue haired mage in front of her had become like a sister she never had in the past 4 years.

Levy stopped suddenly, and as Lucy caught up to the solid script mage she realised why. They had reached a section of the passageway that diverged into two separate paths, one that continued skirting the lower level of the pyramid, and one that turned sharply to the right and appeared to head more towards the centre of the structure.

The bluenette was busily scouring the yellowed map they had brought as Lucy leaned over her shoulder, "any idea of which path we should take Lev?"

Levy looked up above the rim of her glasses and fixed her gaze on her blonde best friend. "Well, I can gather certain details from the map based on the entrance we originally took," she pointed to an entry point marked in the centre of the southern side of the pyramidal structure, "but after we fell it was a little difficult to determine which orientation we were in when we started down this passage..."

Lucy sighed, of course she had made this more difficult by setting off that stupid trap!

"It's ok Lu," her friend reassured and resumed studying the map carefully, "we know that the artifact should be on the second level of this temple, and, judging by the texts that led us here, it should be located with the shrine."

She looked up to Lucy again with a grin on her face, "If I had to guess, I'd say the shrine would be on the eastern side of the building."

Lucy's face must have betrayed how completely lost she felt because Levy continued patiently, "you see, from what I gathered while reading up on the artifact, the people who built this structure designed it with a specific purpose in mind-"

She drew Lucy's attention to the map by pointing out some dotted lines along the eastern edges of each tier of the temple, "-the eastern side of the ruins is depicted as having multiple windows in the exterior walls, see?"

"Yeah…" Lucy agreed hesitantly.

"Well, the temple was originally used by worshipers of the Sun god," she rolled the map back up delicately and placed it back in her pack, "and they would generally pray in the mornings, so it makes sense that the only windows are on the eastern side-"

"-where the sun rises!" Lucy cut her off excitedly, "Gotcha!"

"So we should probably take that one," her friend suggested, pointing at the path to their right, "that looks like it might lead us more towards the centre. Hopefully we can find some stairs along the way that will take us up to the higher levels."

"Ok!" Lucy exclaimed, in slightly better spirits than a moment ago now that they had some semblance of a plan, "lead the way Lev."

-[:¤:]-

A few hours later the two mages had finally made it to the second level of the temple.

The path they had taken had proven to be an excellent guess by Levy, and the pair had hit a set of weathered stone stairs a few hundred metres in, that happened to lead directly back up to the ground floor.

They hadn't encountered many other traps as they worked their way deeper into the ground level. There had been two nasty swinging log traps though, but Levy had spotted them fairly easily now that they were being more cautious.

Soon the two girls had found another set of stairs that led to the upper levels, and it had been smooth sailing up to the second level where the artifact should have been located.

The prayer room was pretty easy to find from there. It was the room on the eastern side that was furthest down a short corridor leading from the stairs and inside they were met with a large shrine.

Lucy now found herself standing in front of what could only be some sort of altar.

A large marble slab sat atop two identical stone pillars, upon which were countless engravings depicting various stages of sacrificial offerings to the sun god.

Lucy felt goosebumps prickle the back of her scalp and raise on her arms, she shivered involuntarily, she didn't even want to think about what sacrifices may have been committed here.

The greater part of the shrine housed multiple candelabra's and assorted relics, which were hung or placed ornamentally around the altar.

Lucy examined the items on display as if she were ogling expensive jewelry in a shop window, until something caught her eye.

Sitting atop a small raised platform to the right of the altar at about eye level, a triangular shaped bronze amulet, encrusted with tiny rubies along the edge of its front face, glittered in the fading sunlight that streamed in through the large open windows.

The urge to reach out and touch the pretty item almost overwhelmed her, but Lucy knew better than to put her hands on anything in a place like this without first knowing if it were potentially enchanted, or, even worse...cursed.

"What do you think this is Lev?" she turned to her best friend, who was currently hunched over a reference text she had bought that described the item they had been hired to retrieve in more detail.

"Hmm?" Levy looked up from the small volume, her eyes drawn to the piece of interest by the line of Lucy's gaze.

"Oh, you mean that amulet with the red stones?" the bluenette raised from her crouch and shuffled over to where Lucy stood, book still in hand.

After a few minutes of silent scrutiny Levy spoke, "I'm not one hundred percent sure to be honest," she shrugged, "but I can't sense any negative traces of magic on it. What makes you ask?"

"I'm not completely sure myself," Lucy's eyebrows pulled together slightly, her lips turning down in a small frown, "but for some reason I just feel really drawn to it. Do you think it would be safe for me to touch?"

"It's hard to say," the solid script mage replied slowly, "but if you feel this drawn to it, maybe it's magical and wants to be picked up by someone?"

Throwing caution to the wind Lucy reached out slowly, her fingers closing around the small triangular object gently. It felt warm to the touch and she found herself hesitating, holding her breath as she waited for something to happen.

But, nothing did.

She let out a long shaky breath and continued carefully lifting the amulet from its platform. A fine bronze chain that Lucy hadn't noticed before uncurled and followed her motion as she brought the delicate object to her person.

The amulet itself was beautiful, and the metal radiated a soft warmth as she turned it over in her hand for further inspection.

There were no engravings on the underside, just a smooth bronze surface that she couldn't help but stroke softly as she turned it over once more in her open palm.

"Do you think it would be ok if I kept this?" she asked hopefully, looking up to the bluenette who had just released a bated breath of her own, "it's just… I really feel like it was meant for me somehow. Does that sound strange?"

"Even if it does sound strange-" her friend began "-I can't see why you shouldn't have it." She smiled at Lucy, her eyes crinkling a little in the corners, "i'm not sure if there are any specific rules to treasure hunting, but items in ancient ruins like this are fair game to whoever finds them, at least as far as I'm aware."

"Alright then!" Lucy exclaimed happily, "I'm keeping it!" her thumb carefully tracing the small red gems once more before placing the chain over her head and tucking the amulet beneath the collar of her ruined shirt.

Getting back to the task at hand she looked again to the blue haired mage and asked,"any idea which one of these items is our commission?"

The seriousness returned to Levy's tone as she replied, "to be honest with you I don't think it's here," she looked back to the tome in her arms and then to Lucy once more, her face a little sad, "maybe it's in another room?"

"Lets keep looking!" Lucy exclaimed cheerfully, not wanting to see that look of disappointment on her best friends face. And also not wanting to miss out of the reward money she needed to pay her rent.

And so they continued searching the old ruins for the artifact into the night.

-[:¤:]-

E.N.D was so done with this stinkin' boat.

He had never been particularly fond of any form of transportation, but boats were by far his least favourite method of travel.

Even the gentlest swaying of the ship as it sliced through the calm water before him was enough to twist his stomach into knots.

The demon was half sitting-half slumped up on deck, his back resting against the railing and his rear gradually absorbing the damp from the wooden boards beneath him.

The flaking white paint of the railing was rough against his bare arms, which was actually helping in some small way to distract him from the nausea – if only briefly and on the odd occasion that the scratching sensation on his skin was enough to register in his sickness-hazed mind.

The fire mage had always struggled with motion sickness.

He liked to think of it as his only weakness, and even the best healing mages in Alvarez had advised him that the only 'treatment' they could suggest was to keep his eyes on the horizon with the fresh sea air blowing on his face.

He had almost burned them all alive right there and then.

The bastards.

Sometimes he suspected they just didn't want to help him. He was a demon after all, a creature most humans feared or despised – and with good reason.

So, after spending five whole miserable days below deck, squirming in his cot and emptying his stomach periodically into the tin bucket on the ground beside him until eventually all that was left was dry heaving, he had decided to try following their advice.

There were still about five days of this torturous travel left.

The demon now sat, gazing out to sea as the sun turned the horizon from a pale blue to shades of orange and pink that even rivaled his hair. His stomach still felt like it was trying to turn itself inside out.

Urgh. He felt like hell.

Ha.

Yes, E.N.D, the most powerful demon of the book of Zeref, had just – accidentally – thought up a pun.

Anything to distract himself from the feeling of constant pain twisting his insides like a bag of restless snakes.

His attention was drawn to a sea bird drifting overhead, no doubt seeking out the fish that were attracted by the change in current caused by the boat's wake.

He felt an unfamiliar pang in his chest as he watched it soar on large white wings.

It looked… so... free.

As the boat lurched suddenly so did his stomach, any other thoughts instantly dying as the cramps resurfaced with a vengeance.

He leaned back against the railing as the movement of the boat smoothed out once more and resigned himself to the journey still before him.

When he looked back up to the blue sky the bird was no longer anywhere in sight.

-[:¤:]-

* * *

Thank you for your reviews!

J Luc Pitard - FNAFFRENZYCAT - peacerockgirl123 - NaLuFTfanatic - An Amber Pen - sarara1.8 - guest - guest - 4evrDorkly17


	4. Tempo

**Tempo**

 _The rate or speed of motion or activity; pace._

* * *

After a grueling day training with his 'handler' in the arena training grounds, Gajeel was beat. That Jariah sure knew how to put a man through some serious physical pain, but he shouldn't complain.

After spending four whole days in bed recovering from the injuries he'd acquired during his fight with E.N.D, the iron dragon slayer had resolved himself to training as hard as he possibly could. So that when he faced that monster again, he'd be ready.

That being said, today's training sure had taken its toll on his lingering injuries. Everything ached, even his _toes_ were hurting. Gajeel didn't even know how that was possible, but if he had to guess he'd probably put it down to all the sprints he had been made to run before the sparring. " _One must always train for physical endurance as well as strength"_ the old man had lectured. Gajeel had just grunted out a "whatever" while they thrashed their training swords at each other.

He honestly didn't mind the tough training regime, it gave him something to do as well as helping to distract him from the dangers of his situation. But man was it painful to run and jump when his ribs were still tender and his bruises still hadn't completely faded.

That's why, when Jariah suggested they call it a day slightly earlier than they'd originally planned and had pulled Gajeel aside to tell him there was a chance for a little recon that evening " _if they played their_ _cards right_ ", well, let's just say he was more than a little relieved.

After stretching out his sore muscles, bathing, eating a few large plates of whatever he could get his hands on and resting for a few hours, Jariah appeared in his chambers with a bulging canvas rucksack and a detailed map of the castle.

His target was Zeref's personal study. A large section of the west wing that was more or less isolated from the castle proper.

It had taken him thirty minutes of scrutinising the map to decide on an entry route by the western edge of the Colosseum through some perfectly sculpted gardens. Followed by a full two hours of possibly his most stealthy advance ever to make it into the west wing undetected.

And now, here he was. The enormous wooden doors loomed before him, strangely unguarded for such an important place. There had been guards posted outside in the gardens – which he had managed to avoid – but there wasn't a single person in sight in the extravagant hallway leading up to these doors.

Gajeel scratched the back of his head as he tried to think of a reason for this glaring anomaly, eventually shrugging away the thought. If Zeref wasn't occupying the rooms, then perhaps guards weren't really necessary.

Plus, he had a sneaking suspicion that no one in this castle really feared intruders. Which seemed like a serious lack of judgement on their part.

Taking a silent deep breath that helped him to both straighten his shoulders and clear his head, he pushed through the doors, trying to make as little sound as possible in the echoing hallway.

It was dark in the large room that served as Zeref's study. So dark in fact, that the dragon slayer couldn't see two feet in front of him. It was at times such as this that Gajeel wished he had better night vision. Unfortunately, that was one heightened sense his dragon slaying magic hadn't afforded him.

If only Levy were here. She could light up any room she wanted just by writing the damn word in the air in front of her. He had always been quietly impressed by her solid script magic. It was just so bloody useful to be able to create anything you needed out of thin air – and magic power, of course.

There had been many missions where, without Levy's quick thinking and abilities, the iron dragon slayer was sure that neither of them would have made it back.

He sighed, thinking about the short feisty bluenette at a time like this really wasn't a smart idea. He needed to keep his wits about him, and the shrimp was a distraction, for more reasons than one.

Gajeel shook his head violently, causing his long mane of black hair to whip around his face. _Snap out of it Gajeel._ What was he doing again? Oh, right! He needed light.

Rummaging through the pack that Jariah had provided in the darkened room, his hands clasped around something promising. Sure enough, as he tugged the object free of the bag the room was instantly illuminated by a pale glow as the item reacted to his magic.

Trust the old man to pack him a lacrima powered torch for just this occasion. Now if only he had packed a snack.

Squinting around the large room in the faint glow of the torch as he moved deeper in, Gajeel's eyes were drawn to the bizarre paintings and tapestries hanging all over the walls. Most depicted scenes of what he could only assume were historical battles. The weapons were a little outdated by present day standards and the outfits looked more like costumes from one of Rabian's theatre productions.

One in particular caught his eye with its glittering thread and he made his way over to it, skirting around a lavish chaise lounge and some floor-to-ceiling shelving that was practically bursting with ancient books and tomes – Levy would have _loved_ to spend some time browsing those shelves – to get a better view of the large tapestry.

It was easily the biggest in the room, stretching almost the length of an entire wall in a swathe of vibrant colour that captivated him with both its complexity and the subject of its design.

On this particular piece was embroidered, in near perfect likeness, dragons.

He recognised the scene from a story Metalicana, who was both his father and the dragon who had taught him dragon slaying magic, had told him many years ago. This tapestry had captured a brief moment from the great civil war among dragons, a snapshot from one of the most crucial periods in the history of dragon kind.

In the story, dragons had gone to war with each other over humans around 400 years ago. More specifically, some dragons – his father included – believed that they should try and coexist with humans. Others wanted to continue the old ways, eating and killing humans as they pleased.

Metalicana always said that the dragons they had fought against saw themselves as the only king's that mattered at the time, and they were adamant that they wouldn't lose their position of power. This lead to many arguments and, unfortunately, to the division of the dragon race.

Towards the end of the war, the dragons who were fighting for a world in which dragons and humans would coexist, taught a small number of humans the ability to slay their kin through magic. These humans would come to be known as the dragon slayers, harnessing the same magic Gajeel now possessed. The rest was history.

He extended his arm in the soft light of the lacrima torch illuminating the tapestry, his calloused fingers tracing the large red dragon at the centre of the battle, portrayed so beautifully on the ancient fabric. This dragon was larger than the others. His enormous wings were spread wide, their scarlet scales glittering even in the dim light. It was a sight equally majestic and fierce in beauty.

"Igneel," he breathed. He remembered the name of the fire drake from the stories of his immense power and of his sympathy to humans. Metalicana was woven beside him, only slightly smaller in size than the great fire drake and equally as awe inspiring. A sudden pang hit Gajeel as his fingers brushed across the shining silver wings of the only father he had ever known.

Metalicana was long gone. Gajeel didn't know why he had left so abruptly all those years ago, only that he had been a small child, suddenly lost and alone in the world.

He had searched for his father for years after his disappearance, but there were never any promising leads to follow and eventually he had given up his blind searching along with his hopes of ever finding the dragon. Shortly after that he had taken to life on the streets.

He wasn't angry at Metalicana any more, not really, that phase of his life has long since passed. Besides, if he hadn't led the same life up until this point he probably would never have ended up at Fairy Tail. And if he hadn't joined Fairy Tail he never would have met Levy.

The dragon slayer was snapped out of his reverie by a number of unexpected scents suddenly drifting in from the direction of the open doors behind him.

He turned his head towards the entrance, barely even having a chance to register the disruption before he was frozen in place. Unable to move a single muscle as the scents grew stronger still and he began to hear the whispering of voices.

And then the lights flickered on. The abrupt change in brightness prompting an involuntary hiss as his eyes squeezed shut to escape the stinging pain of being assaulted after so long adjusting to the near darkness.

As he blinked through tears Gajeel could just make out a man in billowing black robes stride through the doorway, closely followed by a throng of armed guards. The strangers navy blue hair was spiked up in an unusual style atop his head and Gajeel couldn't help but notice a large mole nestled beside the man's nose on his left cheek. He instantly disliked this stranger, and that feeling only grew stronger as he observed a familiar face bringing up the rear of the large group.

There, shackled and bloody and limping as he was half-dragged into the room by one of the guards, before being thrown onto the ground in front of him, was Jariah. Gajeel made a point of memorising the guards face, so he could wipe that smug look off of it later

Shit.

The leader of the group waltzed right up to the frozen dragon slayer, making a point of invading his personal space as obnoxiously as possible before stroking the studs along his brow and musing, "Mmh, I see you still have that ever present nasty look in your eye."

The man's face was painted with a mocking expression as he turned a circle around him. Gajeel spat. The watery fluid not quite making it onto the obnoxious man's face, but instead landing on the bastards shoes while the rest was left to dribble down his own chin.

Honestly he didn't give a shit about the latter, he'd proven his point.

The stranger's face scrunched up in rage and he snarled, "fool! Are you really so dumb that you would purposely make me angry? They said you were a brute, but I never expected you to be _this_ stupid."

"Say what'cha want," Gajeel growled, "as soon as I get free of this cowardly magic I'm gonna pound your ugly face into the ground."

He could still speak at least. He wondered if this was part of the assholes abilities, taunting him with insults while he was unable to move.

The stranger threw his head back and laughed sarcastically, "Ha! You really are a fool if you think you'll be breaking free of my curse power so easily. I have the ability to control your body however I wish. The only reason you still have the ability to run that filthy mouth of yours is because I allow it."

He looked pleased with himself, but that huge mole was the only thing Gajeel could focus on, bobbing up and down on his cheek as he continued speaking, "the emperor himself suspected that a man of your _talents_ might be hiding something. It just seemed too good to be true that someone with magic as rare as yourself would come running into our arms without some kind of ulterior motive."

"Oh yeah? Well your _emperor_ can kiss my ass!" Gajeel snapped. He was out of patience for this mole faced idiot.

He received a hard slap across the face for that outburst. His cheek stung harder than usual from the impact, probably because he wasn't able to move with the force to soften the blow

"Oh, I have a feeling It's going to be fun playing with you _dragon_ _slayer._ " He rubbed his hands together, eyes alight with a promise of pain, the glee in his voice all too evident. "I'm sure you have plenty to say on the matter of why you were sent here to spy on his majesty," he sneered, "and I plan to force you to tell me all that you know. In due time of course."

Moleface snapped his fingers in the direction of his guards, "Alright men. Take them both–" he gestured between Gajeel and Jariah, "–to the dungeons."

But Gajeel wouldn't let it end like that, _couldn't_ let it. He wanted to get the last word in and prove to this asshole that he wasn't afraid of his insinuated threats, "I'm going to make you sorry you hurt a friend of mine," he promised, purposely turning his voice into barely more than a whisper as he was dragged out of the room.

-[:¤:]-

E.N.D lay with his face firmly planted in the grass and dirt, his arms and legs sprawled out in all directions. They had finally arrived in the port town of Hargeon and the motion sick demon was very relieved to be off of that rocking death trap from hell.

It took a good twenty minutes for the nausea – which had been his constant companion on that seemingly never ending journey – to ease enough that he felt capable of standing once more.

He pushed up from the ground with the flat of his palms and stood, still a little wobbly in the legs despite being on dry land once more. He absolutely loathed being reduced to a useless jelly-legged sack of meat like this. Embarrassment aside, it just wasn't a good position to be in.

Curse all forms of transportation and whoever had thought them up in the first place!

Sucking in a large gulp of salty ocean air that revitalised his lungs, he turned back towards the dock to recover the possessions he had unceremoniously discarded in his initial haste to reach the first patch of dry land he saw.

Reaching into his pack, he retrieved the small tattered doll that idiot _Mard_ had given him as a way of sniffing out his target.

If he hadn't been on direct orders from the emperor he would have wiped that smug little grin off of his stupid ass-kissing face by now.

He turned the well-loved item over in his calloused hands to inspect it's worn face. The doll's hand-stitched mouth smiled up at him, it's black button eyes somehow intensified the creepiness of the expression that was forever etched on its cartoonish features. It almost seemed to be mocking him in some way. This thought made him feel suddenly repulsed by the toy, so he stretched his arm out to dangle it by a leg in front of him, as far away from his body as his reach would allow.

But the disgusted look on his face soon morphed into a fiendish sneer at the notion that no matter how mocking the dolls smile appeared, it was soon to betray its master – possibly even leading to her total demise.

He was just lucky that such an intimate object had been acquired. It was so drenched in the girl's scent – no doubt from years of her holding it close like a pathetic infant – that it made sniffing her out all too easy. Peoples scents didn't change much over the years, so this doll was the perfect object for his hunt.

Mard's idiot lackeys that had brought it back to Alvarez with them had been so proud of themselves. Telling of how it had been a struggle at first – with the more loyal serving staff refusing to participate in anything that could involve harm coming to their old mistress – but once they had started resorting to violence one woman in particular had cooperated in order to spare her husband's life.

Even though none of the staff of the large mansion knew exactly where their young mistress had ended up, the old hag was able to supply some important details on her potential whereabouts, along with this doll and some clothes that could be used for tracking.

Of course, E.N.D was the only one with a nose sensitive enough for such a task thanks to his dragon slaying abilities, hence why he had been shipped off to this god forsaken country at his master's earliest convenience.

And so, here he was, loathing everything, especially the stupid, freaky-looking doll in front of him.

He begrudgingly brought the doll closer to himself once more, burying his nose in the fabric of its faded blue dress and inhaling deeply. At least the girl's scent was a pleasant one. He immediately picked up a sweetness reminiscent of strawberries, mingled with some sort of flower that reminded him of cherry blossoms.

After thoroughly memorising the smell, the pink haired dragon slayer stashed the doll back in his pack before shouldering it and taking another large gulp of the surrounding air, closing his eyes in concentration while he tried to muddle through the mass of aromas around him.

There were a thousand different scents, drifting and dancing around him, coming from all directions. The most overwhelming odour was that of fish from the fishing boats docked at the wharf. Something niggled at his mind whenever he could smell fish, almost like a memory trying to burrow its way to the surface of his mind, but he had never really worked out why.

Sorting through this many different smells was tricky, but if he dug deeper, sifting through the layers one by one and classifying them by what he recognised – or not – there was so much more. There were the many different aromas of foods from the nearby town. Freshly baked bread and pastries, smoked ham and other assorted meats wafting through the early morning air…

He found himself drooling involuntarily at the thought of food, his mind wandering. He had to dig his fingernails into the palms of his fists to re-focus.

After several minutes of concentrating as hard as he could he was beginning to think that this was actually going to be impossible, but then he caught it, floating in from a southwesterly direction, the unmistakable scent of strawberries and cherry blossoms. And judging by the strength of the sudden wave it was coming from somewhere fairly close by. He smirked to himself amusedly, hardly believing his luck. It seemed he wouldn't even have to travel far to find this girl.

And so began his favorite part. The fire dragon slaying demon loved nothing more than hunting for his prey.

-[:¤:]-

As Levy and Lucy approached the end of the fifth day of their journey back from the ruins, Lucy began recognising landmark's that told her they were close to the port town of Hargeon.

She couldn't wait to get back to civilization proper. Her blue haired best friend had already agreed to stay at an inn for the night before taking the first train home in the morning, which had her practically jumping up and down with excitement.

An inn meant a nice hot bath, which was something Lucy was desperately craving and something she always missed while travelling the more-or-less uninhabited parts of Fiore. There were only so many days of cloth baths in a row before she could no longer honestly say she felt clean.

Yes, a long soak in a hot tub was just what she needed.

The path they were currently heading down was littered with boulders that no doubt had tumbled from the mountains that loomed behind them. Looking across to Levy she noticed her best friend's eyes were downcast and she was wringing her hands as she cradled them at her chest. Her eyebrows were furrowed together in what Lucy suspected to be either concentration or concern, she wasn't sure which, but she was determined to find out.

"What's wrong Lev?" the celestial spirit mage hated seeing her friends upset, so after a moment of lingering silence from Levy she decided to try and lighten the mood by changing the subject. "I'm totally looking forward to a nice hot meal at the guild when we get back. I'm gonna have Mira cook me up a giant plate of her best spaghetti with one of those delicious strawberry milkshakes! How about you?"

Levy didn't respond, she just continued staring out to the horizon while walking, so Lucy continued on, "I mean, I know my cooking has been pretty terrible these past few days," her arms waved in the air at her sides, "but hey! It's not like I've had a lot to work with, ya know?" she finished, sighing for dramatic effect.

Lucy had a feeling she knew what was bothering the solid script mage, but she didn't want to push her best friend or make her feel even more uncomfortable. So she had instead settled on waiting for her friend to confess it on her own terms.

"Why did Gajeel have to leave on such a dangerous mission?" the blue haired mage blurted suddenly, a blush creeping onto her cheeks and a hand coming up to cover her mouth as if she instantly regretted her outburst.

Lucy let her body relax, she honestly hadn't expected it to be that easy. Her friend must be seriously worried about the guild's resident iron dragon slayer for her to get straight to the point like this.

"He didn't even say goodbye," the bluenette whispered, furiously rubbing the corners of her eyes to hide tears that were leaking out despite her attempts. Levy's whole body shuddered as she stifled a sob and Lucy rushed to her side, wrapping her up in a comforting hug. Well at least, what she hoped was comforting.

"He's going to be alright Lev," she soothed, stroking her friend's hair as the bluenette cried into Lucy's shoulder, "this is _Gajeel_ we're talking about!"

Levy's body was shaking from the intensity of her sobs and Lucy tried to hold her steady, "but he's all alone over there," she wailed, "couldn't he have at least taken someone with him?"

"You know he had to go alone Lev," Lucy hummed, rubbing small circles into her friends back, "it would just be harder to blend in if anyone went with him."

Levy was calming down now, she could feel her best friends body relaxing as she spoke, her sobs becoming less and less pronounced, "plus, it's not like he needs protecting, he's one of fairy tail's strongest wizards!"

"I know you're right," Levy breathed, breaking away from the hug to wipe away her tears. Lucy handed her a tissue and she blew her nose, "I'm just worried about him, you know?"

"I totally understand," Lucy continued as they resumed walking towards town now that Levy had regained her composure, "we just have to trust the master-" she gave Levy her best confident smile, "-and I don't think he would send Gajeel on a mission unless he was sure he could handle it." Levy just sniffed as she nodded in silent agreement.

They crested a hill and began their descent in the direction of town in a comfortable silence, but just as they rounded a bend in the dirt track courtesy of a rather large cluster or boulders, the two Fairy Tail mages found their path blocked by a pink haired stranger with two muscled arms crossed over his chest. Both girls froze at the sight of him.

Lucy didn't undertand why some strange guy was just standing there in the middle of the road like that. And, wait, was she imagining it or was he actually _tapping_ his foot impatiently?

"Are you Looney?" the stranger demanded, pointing directly at Lucy.

Ok, who the hell was this weirdo? And how dare he call her a looney...

"The name's _Lucy_!" she grit out, "But wait-" she paused, her face contorting in confusion, "how the heck do you know my name anyway?!"

The pink haired stranger took a few confident strides towards them and sighed sarcastically. "Yeah, whatever," he waved away her question. "Guess what blondie," he pointed at her once more, a creepy grin twisting his features, "you're coming with me."

Lucy took a step back, almost stumbling over a rock on the path. "Like hell I am!" she shouted angrily, "who even are you? And what kind of person just drops in unannounced and threatens someone?!" This guy had some nerve, seriously, but she was beginning to worry that he might actually be dangerous.

"Look lady, I ain't got all day" he drawled, cracking his knuckles menacingly, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice," he shrugged nonchalantly, "the hard way is more fun for me anyway."

Lucy's hands instinctively shot to the pouch on her belt that held her keys, but before she even had the chance to draw one Levy was on the offensive. The smaller girl rushed forward, crossing both arms through the air in a wide arc and gracefully twisting her body while simultaneously shouting "Solid script, heat spell!" Obviously her best friend had also sensed the danger practically radiating off this guy.

In a flash, the word FIRE appeared in the sky before the solid script mage in giant blue letters and a large column of blue flames erupted from the word, streamlining towards the stranger. The heat of the blaze radiated to where Lucy stood a few metres back, causing her to shield her face with her arm as her hair whipped around her head almost violently.

But just as Lucy was internally celebrating the fact that there was surely no way the stranger could had survived, she heard it.

It sounded almost like a child, slurping a drink as loudly as possible through an over-sized straw...but like, amplified by a lacrima powered microphone.

She removed her arm from her face to stare in the direction of the stranger. From what she could see his belly was round and full and it was then Lucy realised with horror that he had just _eaten_ the fire Levy had used to attack.

Not only that, but he actually had the gall to lick his fingers one by one before patting his stomach contentedly and calling out to them, "now I've got a fire in my belly!"

Who _was_ this guy? Clearly he wasn't some small fry bounty hunter or pick pocket with that ability. If she thought about it, she had actually seen something very similar before, with Gajeel. Except he tended to prefer chomping on scraps of metal rather than fire.

It had to be dragon slaying magic.

A formidable magic indeed.

She had no idea why someone with that kind of magic would be after her, but she'd be damned if she let him hurt Levy! Or take her for that matter!

 _Looks like it's time to get serious_.

But, what could she or levy possibly do against someone potential as powerful as Gajeel? Or maybe even more so, unless…There was plenty of dirt around them, and that played to her advantage, maybe she could use Virgo to trap this strange fire dragon slayer before he could attack them again. At least that might buy some time for them to come up with a better plan.

Removing a key from her belt she drew it though the air in a wide arc exclaiming loudly, "Open gate of the maiden, Virgo!"

A young woman in a maids outfit, with shocking pink hair beneath her white ruffled headpiece and shackles on her wrists, materialised in a cloud of shimmering golden light beside Lucy. Simultaneously, Lucy's body began to glow as Virgos star dress materialised, replacing her original clothes in a burst of shimmering light.

"You called princess?" The maid asked Lucy politely, "is it punishment time?"

Lucy just sighed, pressing her thumb and forefinger to her forehead and massaging her temple in frustration, "For the thousandth time, no!" she yelled.

She pointed at the pink haired man – whose head was now tilted slightly to the left as he regarded their exchange with curiosity – and ordered, "Look, I need you to trap _him_ , got it?"

"As you wish princess," Virgo deadpanned, disappearing into the ground beneath her with a twist of her body.

Not two seconds later, the fire eater plunged into the ground legs first, a small cloud of dust settling to reveal him buried up to his waist. He wiggled in position in a weak attempt to free himself. He looked up, his expression seeming to suggest that he was somewhat impressed by the quick thinking of the blonde haired mage.

"You got him Lu!" Levy exclaimed excitedly. But her happiness was short lived as the strange fire mage suddenly shot out of the ground with a "pop", extinguishing the small streams of flame on the soles of his feet as he touched back onto solid ground.

Virgo popped back up again beside Lucy, "I'm sorry princess, I wasn't able to hold him." She sounded upset, but Lucy just nodded, evidently it was gonna be a lot trickier to stop this guy, "thanks anyway Virgo, you can go back now," she waved her spirit away, never taking her eyes of the stranger.

He crossed his arms over his chest once again and eyed the two female mages conspiratorially as Virgo disappeared. The malicious gleam was back in his eye and that evil smirk was just touching the corners of his mouth.

Lucy edged her way over to Levy as casually as she could while maintaining eye contact with the stranger. Once she was next to the bluenette she whispered, "what should we do?"

"I think our only chance will be to create a diversion and then run for it," Levy reasoned quietly, "Hargeon is just down this hill and it will be harder for him to fight us in a busy town where there are so many witnesses."

Lucy nodded but her brow was scrunched, a frown plain on her face as she desperately tried to formulate a plan.

"Whatever your plotting over there its not gonna work," the dragon slayer called out to them casually. He was looking almost bored now and had resumed tapping his foot.

Lucy ignored him, snapping her fingers in the air as it came to her, if they wanted a diversion then she had just the spirit for the job.

She removed the key from her belt and slashed it through the air calling, "Open gate of the twins, Gemini!"

Another Lucy materialised in front of them, this one clad only in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head. The celestial spirit mage didn't don her star dress this time, her plan relied on Geminis ability to mimic her appearance. She hoped that an identical copy of her might distract the stranger long enough for her and Levy to make a run for it.

Then she noticed Geminis choice of attire. "What are you wearing?" Lucy groaned, her hand slapping against her forehead in disdain.

"This is what you were wearing when we last copied you, piri-piri," her clone crooned.

The pink haired fire mage looked on eagerly at the scene unfolding before him, a glimmer of amusement entering into his dark eyes.

"Put some clothes on!" Lucy shouted. She was _so_ done with these idiots today! Seriously, her spirits were always a little eccentric, but this was taking it too far! Especially given their current predicament.

Gemini obliged without further argument and the Lucy-clone's body was enveloped in a soft glow for a split second before she was suddenly wearing a matching blue and white skirt and blouse combo with a gold trim, identical to Lucy's own current clothes.

The celestial mage nodded approvingly, even turning a circle around her doppelganger before saying, "I forgot how cute I look in this outfit." After making sure the disguise was complete it was Lucy's turn to smirk as she stood between Levy and Gemini and faced the stranger. "Alright Gemini, think you can keep this guy occupied for a bit?"

Gemini copied her smirk, "we'd love to Lucy, piri-piri."

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So... I'm really sorry for the late update guys! Truth be told I've just been so extremely busy with my PhD and other life things that I haven't had the time or motivation to write. And when I did have time I kept coming back to this chapter but it just wouldn't come together. Even now I'm still not 100% happy with it.**

 **But, onwards and upwards! (Hopefully its not too awful...)**

 **Also, please rest assured I have every intention of seeing this story through. I was originally aiming for a chapter every fortnight, but that may stretch out to be longer from time to time, depending on how overwhelmed I am. I do have the next few chapters outlined and a little written for each, so we'll see how I go!**

 **Now the important stuff;**

 **Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!**

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 **You guys rock! Thanks for motivating me with your thoughts, theories and kind words :D**

 **To anyone else following this story who hasn't reviewed, I'd love to hear what you thought of the chapter/any theories you have of what might happen next etc. :) it really makes my day and reading over the reviews can provide that little bit of a push to complete a new chapter!**

 **Happy holidays to everyone!**

 **Until next time, Peace.**


	5. Era

**Era**

 _A system of chronology dating from a particular event._

* * *

Lucy could feel the pre-battle adrenaline coursing through her as she regarded the fire dragon slayer. She wasn't sure if it was wise to let herself believe they had a chance but she certainly wouldn't give up so easily.

The pink haired stranger frowned at the scene unfolding before him. His brows pulled together as his eyes flitted back and forth between the two identical blondes now standing where moments ago there had only been one.

Why had his prey decided to make an identical copy of herself? He couldn't quite work it out. They were even wearing the same clothes now, which seemed a little silly, given that he could easily distinguish between them anyway. He had an impeccable sense of smell after all.

But, perhaps the girl hadn't realised this? That thought returned a smirk to his face.

"Alright," Lucy continued, ignoring the man who seemed unnervingly pleased with the situation for some reason, "now, for this plan to work i'm going to need help from one more person."

She was reaching for her belt once again, the fire mage's eyes following her every move. The blonde drew another golden key from the worn leather pouch and called clearly, "Open, Gate of the ram! Aries!"

A puff of pink smoke materialised and quickly cleared to reveal a woman in a white wooly dress now standing beside the celestial mage. "Hello miss Lucy," Aries bowed her head as she spoke, pink locks falling to obscure her face, "sorry, but, uhh, how may I be of assistance to you?"

"I need you to make a wool wall large enough to obscure us from _his_ view-" she gestured to the other pinkette, "-so that Levy and I can make a break for it." Lucy made a point of speaking softly to the ram spirit in hopes of evade the strangers hearing. Not that is was unusual for her to speak softly to her spirit anyway, she was always somewhat afraid that shouting would spook the gentle natured girl.

Aries looked up, raising her hand to partially hide her face behind a clenched fist, "Ok, i'll try my best," adding her usual "sorry" as an afterthought.

"Alright!" Lucy turned to Levy, stealing another short glance over her shoulder at the stranger before she continued, "once he's busy with Aries we should split up, that way Gemini has a better chance of luring him away."

Levy nodded, "sounds good, but I think we should still head in the same direction. That way we can back each other up if anything goes wrong," she reasoned.

"That sounds sensible," Lucy nodded her agreement. "Ok, you guys ready?"

"Ready!" Levy, Aries and the Gemini Lucy chorused.

E.N.D watched on with only mild interest. He wasn't too concerned with the conspiratorial whispering. He'd let them make their little plans.

Past experience told him that whenever his prey thought they stood a chance against him they would always fight harder, and that could only make his day more interesting. Besides, it was much more fun when he got to play a little.

"Ok!" the celestial mage said enthusiastically, "here goes," she steeled herself as she pointed to Aries, "do your thing!"

Aries obliged, immediately thrusting her arms out infront of her and touching her thumbs together at the sides where they connected with her wrists. "Wool wall!" Aries shouted timidly, her open palms facing the stranger – because somehow she always found a way to make everything sound timid.

Lucy couldn't help but smile as mountains of pink fluffy wool promptly burst forth from her palms, streaming out in a large cloud that quickly enveloped the area directly in front of the dragon slayer and continued stretching out to a few metres either side within seconds.

Once they could no longer see the stranger Lucy and Levy broke into a run. They split paths, remaining behind the large pink wool wall as Lucy veered to the left while Levy veered right. Their goal was to run a wide arc to evade the stranger blocking their path, while also making sure to run in the general direction of Hargeon so that they could easily meet up on the path further down.

Meanwhile, Gemini was running back the way they had come, directly in the stranger's line of sight – or at least where it would be once Aries wool dissipated. They were hoping this would confuse and lure him in the opposite direction long enough that they could escape.

But before Lucy could make it twenty metres she heard a bellow of "FIRE DRAGONS ROARRRRR!" from the direction in which the pink haired fire mage had been standing.

Suddenly Aries wool wall was burning. The strong stench of singed hair that filled the air made Lucy cover her mouth with her hand as she coughed and gagged. Her eyes watered as she squinted in the direction of a plume of dark smoke that billowed out from the flames origin. Aries turned back to face Lucy, her arms still stretched out before her and a desperate look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," the shy girl cried out, her arms coming up to shield her face from the oncoming flames as she disappeared in a puff of pink smoke identical to the one that had brought her to earthland.

Lucy felt a pang of guilt as she watched Aries return to the spirit world. She was certain the ram spirit had had tears in her eyes.

Damn it! How had the plan fallen apart so quickly? Too quickly for them to make it far enough for her pursuer not to see their escape routes.

"Crap!" Lucy yelled this time as she turned and began sprinting back in the direction from which she'd come. Her legs felt like lead, which probably had something to do with the amount of magic she had used already, but she pushed on. She couldn't let herself get tired. If she allowed this feeling to overcome her she wouldn't be able to escape, wouldn't be able to help Levy if she needed it. No, she had to keep going.

Before she could make it back on tired legs Gemini was already on the counter offensive. She froze as she heard her own voice shout for Cancer, as Gemini called the crab spirit using the duplicated key their magic provided. She could see the pink haired man's eyebrows pull together as he regarded his new opponent. Gemini stood firm as Cancer was summoned from the celestial world, his pairs of red scissors in hand and snipping at the empty air.

The strangers frown deepened, and Lucy could only assume that he was trying to figure out if the girl in front of him was the one he was after, or the double. She grinned, feeling more pleased with her plan as the seconds passed, but just as she began internally celebrating their victory Cancer spoke "hey baby…," he paused after his usual greeting, "where's Lucy? Why'd you call for me Gemini?"

Shit. Shit shit shit shit _shit_. They hadn't filled Cancer in on the plan, so Lucy couldn't exactly blame him for giving them away, but that didn't change the fact that they were now totally and utterly screwed. The dragon slayer would have to be more than dense not to pick up on that obvious comment.

Lucy's eyes scanned the opposite side of the path, searching for Levy. She desperately hoped that her best friend had kept running when the wool began burning. Her eyes locked with the blue haired girl, who was also standing, frozen, at a similar distance to Lucy on the opposite side, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes.

With slow, deliberate movements the stranger turned to Lucy. His mouth formed a feral grin, unnaturally sharp canines bared and eyes gleaming as a look of realisation crossed his features. Seriously, how did he not cut his mouth open with those teeth?

Her eyes remained locked with Levy as she pushed down the fear that thrummed through her veins, making her nauseous. She had to focus on squashing it down with all of her mental strength so that she could think.

Her mind was buzzing. She desperately needed to come up with some way for them to make it out of this. But nothing came to her, no bright ideas emerged from the recess of her mind. Her mind felt alive, a million scenarios playing in her head at once, but she couldn't focus on a single one. They were all blurring together a cacophony of scenarios playing out in her head all at once, and she couldn't focus on a single one or stop the thrumming in her ears as she stared at her best friend.

In that moment Lucy had absolutely no idea what to do, so she did the only thing that surfaced as a semi-clear thought. She continued standing as the stranger began stalking towards her, cupping her hands around her mouth and screaming "Run!" in the direction of her friend, praying to Mavis that Levy would hear and understand.

Then she turned, long blonde strands of hair whipping her in the face as her feet began pounding the hard ground. She vaguely registered a dry laugh from behind her, _too close_ , her breathing was becoming more and more laboured as she pushed herself to continue running as fast as her legs would carry her.

The man behind her shouted, the sound somewhat similar to his earlier attack chant, but in her effort to escape she was barely listening and didn't properly register the words. The next thing Lucy knew she was stumbling.

She looked down to find the hard ground was opening up beneath her, large cracks snaking their way through the rigid earth. Something – or _someone_ – had caused the very ground to become unstable. The celestial mage twisted her body in a hopeless attempt to regain her footing, but she was already falling.

Risking another glance behind her she immediately wished she hadn't. The pink haired man was gaining on her. So close now that all she could do was shield her face from his imminent attack as her knees hit the ground. She hissed in pain as sharp rocks jutted into her bare flesh. The sense of doom that loomed over her now was overwhelming and she began mentally preparing for her impending demise.

She snapped out of it when she heard Levy scream her name. Peeling her hands from her face, her eyes scanned the area for her best friend once more. To Lucy's dismay the bluenette was no longer standing where she had been not two minutes ago, nor was she running in the opposite direction as the celestial mage had hoped.

It was then, with a sense of dread, that she realised it. Rather than escape when she had told her to run, Levy had decided to come to her rescue. Her friends tiny legs were pumping hard as she raced towards Lucy and the stranger that was obviously more dangerous than she'd first imagined.

Levy stopped a few feet behind the stranger, skidding to a halt in the loose pebbles beneath her sandaled feet. The man paused, turning slowly from Lucy's direction to regard the bluenette with curious eyes. Levy wasted no time, waving her arm in front of her and yelling, "Solid script, bullet!"

The word 'Bullet' rapidly materialised in the air in front of her in giant gold letters, and a series of golden energy pellets shot towards her target.

The fire mage reacted immediately, bracing himself for the onslaught of magical projectiles by firmly planting both feet wide and bending his knees slightly. His arms came forward to cross over his chest and face. An instant before the magic bullets reached him he drew them apart, releasing a burst of fire that dispelled the golden pellets of magical energy with ease.

Lucy watched, horror stricken as her friends tiny body was thrown high into the air with the force of his defensive manoeuvre.

She screamed Levy's name as the scene before her unfolded in seemingly perpetual slow-motion. The smaller girl's eyes fluttered closed, her body flipping over and over in the air before coming crashing down with a sickening crunch right on top of a large boulder. Her broken body rolled towards the ground beneath her, clothes blackened and slightly smouldering from the flames.

Tears sprung to Lucy's eyes as she took off, completely forgetting the pink haired monster who was responsible as she sprinted towards her friend, pleading aloud that she would be alive.

"C'mon Lev, please be OK," she cried as she ran, but right before she could make it to her friend she heard a cough to her left that startled her, causing her to trip over a rock and faceplant into the dirt.

Her head snapped around, blonde hair flying over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed when they fell on the stranger as she remembered just where she was and who was responsible for hurting her best friend.

He was just standing there, wearing a disinterested look with his muscled arms folded over his chest again, as if he were waiting for something.

"You!" she screamed, pushing up onto her grazed knees so she was no longer laying at the mercy of this hostile man, her hands balled into fists at her sides, "how dare you!"

"What?" he drawled, his eyes flicking away from her for an instant before resuming his stare, "as far as I recall she attacked me first." He was attempting to appear nonchalant, even though a part of him was cringing internally from the sight of the small woman's body strewn near the rocks. He hadn't actually meant to cause so much damage, but it wasn't his fault if the blue haired girl engaged in a fight she couldn't handle.

Lucy was beyond furious. How could things have turned to shit in such a short amount of time? She knew that she needed to act in a big way, and soon, if she was going to get Levy the proper treatment for her injuries that she desperately needed.

Even with determination burning in her heart Lucy still had to will herself to get up. She was busy trying to muster the strength to make her body move when the fire dragon slayer called out, "so you gonna try running again or nah?" He tapped his foot, "It's not like I've got all day you know."

That was the last straw, his blatant disregard for her friends life was all the push she needed to fight the fear and fatigue warring for control of her body.

"No way," she spat, dragging the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe away some blood that had trickled down from a small gash above her nose, "I won't run! I could never forgive myself for leaving a friend behind!"

Her fingers clenched the dirt for purchase as she pushed herself up slowly, rising to stand on unsteady feet. She was a little wobbly from the fall, and from watching Levy crash into the rocks, but she knew she had to hold herself together. Falling apart when a friend needed her was not an option.

She reached down and tugged another key from her belt, feeling the warmth of the magic tingling at her fingertips. She knew exactly whose key she had grasped from the feel of the magic.

Steeling herself for the inevitable fight before her, she glanced over to her friend. Levy lay a few feet away, her body crumpled in a jumbled heap of limbs, her legs were sticking out at odd angles. Lucy fought the urge to dry heave at the knowledge that more than one of her small friends bones must surely be broken after that impact.

She couldn't see Levy's face, her petite head was turned away from the two mages left standing. Lucy just hoped that her blue haired best friend was unconscious now so she didn't have to feel the pain. Judging by the lack of screams or pained grunts she assumed she was, but Levy was strong in her own right and was not known to complain.

"OK, here goes," Lucy whispered to herself. She knew she had to fight, even if she was still afraid that her fate would be the same as Levy's, she had to try.

"Open gate of the lion!" Lucy bellowed, slashing his key through the tense air.

Her magic flared as she called upon Leo, she felt the strain on her body increase as golden light erupted beside and around her and her spirit began to materialise in the human world.

She felt the familiar warmth of his star dress wrapping around her body and her strength surged in response. This was exactly what she needed. She always felt strongest when she wielded the lion spirits power, it felt like a warmth was spreading out from her body, encircling her in its strong embrace.

"You OK, Lucy?" The lion spirit asked her quietly after taking in the scene, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he spoke.

"I need you to take Levy back to the guild as fast as you can Loke," she said with all the calm she could muster while fighting back the tears that threatened to spill at any moment, "she… she's hurt, real bad. She needs to see Porlyusica as soon as possible."

The celestial mage could see the hesitation in her spirit's eyes as they flashed between the pink haired man in front of them – who still stood, arms folded with a smug smirk on his face – and Levy's crumpled form, before landing back on her.

"Lucy-" he began, but was instantly cut off by a raised hand of the celestial mage.

"-Loke" she pleaded with her friend, "I can handle this guy, please…" her tone turned pleading, "just go!"

He must have picked up on the urgency lining her voice because he immediately strode over to Levy, carefully lifting her from the ground and cradling her in his arms before throwing Lucy a hard look.

"You better take care of yourself," he threatened, not bothering to argue further or attempt to hide the sadness in his eyes. He took off at a run, the golden light he drew from regulus – the source of his power – shining at his heels.

Lucy knew the star's power would increase his speed, allowing him to make the trip back to the guild as quickly as possible. The celestial mage breathed a sigh of relief. With his enhanced speed Loke would make it back to Magnolia faster than any available transportation, and if anyone could give Levy the treatment she desperately needed, it would be Porlyusica.

"You do realise this is pointless right?" she turned again to face the stranger in front of her, the pink haired mage flashed her a huge grin – which might have been comforting if not for the malice behind his words, "I'm much stronger than you could ever imagine blondie. If I fight you seriously you'll only end up broken like your friend, which is not part of my mission."

His words had Lucy's blood boiling. "I don't care one bit about your stupid mission, whoever you are!" Lucy removed her Fleuve d'étoiles from her belt and cracked it in the air before her, "you hurt my friend, and now you're gonna pay."

The pink haired man just shrugged, "you're gonna regret this." If the stupid girl wanted a fight, he'd give her one.

The celestial mage grit her teeth in frustration as she prepared to attack, "If you think I'll give in to someone like you so easily you can just forget it!"

In a flash, she was arcing her Fleuve d'étoiles and thrashing it down in the direction of her opponent with all her might. One of the benefits of Leo's star dress was the massive speed and strength bonuses, both of which she planned on taking advantage of now.

The stream of blue celestial matter that burst from the handle of her whip came down hard on her opponent – or at least, where he _should_ have been. The pink haired mage had managed to lunge out of the whips path at the last second, moving faster than Lucy thought possible, he stood about a few feet to the left of the small crater the tip of the weapon had created with her thrust. Annoyingly, he was looking at her as if he was mildly impressed.

No matter, she had been practicing with her Fleuve d'étoiles more and more lately and she was confident that she wouldn't underestimate his speed a second time. She drew the whip back again, determination burning in her brown eyes. She angled the weapon around her body gracefully, before snapping it down once more at the fire mage with a mighty thrust.

The pink haired man sniggered, clearly doubtful that the blonde mage would meet her mark. He casually sidestepped, only to receive the surprise of his life when the end of the whip struck him in one of his crossed arms, sending him flying backwards into the dirt.

"Alright!" Lucy's grin spread from ear to ear and she practically leapt into the air.

Finally her training was paying off!

The pink haired mage sprung to his feet, his hair was flecked with dust and his arm carried a small scratch from the whip. He inspected the thin cut on his arm before turning to the celestial mage, a vicious snarl tearing from his lips.

This blonde bimbo may have caught him by surprise once, but it wouldn't happen again.

Lucy couldn't help but notice again the razor sharp elongated canines protruding from the man's mouth as he snarled at her, for real this time. She shuddered. He looked like a feral animal – one that had been poked with a stick one too many times. But no matter how afraid she felt she had to keep him distracted, she had to stay conscious and in control of her magic until she felt Loke fade out on his own.

The snarling man rushed forward, hurtling towards her like an arrow loosed from a bow at close range. She drew the whip back again while twisting her body to avoid the man's... claws? – wait, had he always had claws? – She had no time to think on it further as she brought the whip cracking down in his direction once more.

But the stranger was already taking more steps forward, his hands coming up to block the whips path so that it couldn't crack. The streaming length of her weapon wound around his forearm as he held it out. Using this to his advantage as he pulled on it in an attempt to disarm her.

Lucy yelped as she was tugged forwards, the whip no longer acting in her favor. She fell face first into the dirt once more as the pink haired _man_ – because she was pretty sure he was still a man, with claws... and pointed fangs – released his hold on the tail end of her weapon. "Surrender," he growled right in her face as his knee connected with her back forcing her down harder. She cried out from the pain. Shuddering as she felt his hot breath fanning her face as he struggled to remain in control of his breathing.

She craned her neck and looked up into his eyes, her cheek was dirty from being pushed into the ground and her eyes watery from the pain of the impact of his knee on her back.

She had to hold on, for Levy, she had to keep fighting.

She thrust her head sideways, her neck straining, until their temples slammed together and she grit her teeth, "Not gonna happen!"

She reached deep within herself, searching for any remaining traces of inner strength that she could dig up, before writhing in his grasp. Her body twisted just enough that she could move her leg, calling upon her own magic and allowing Leo's added strength to give her a much needed boost, she struck the man in the ribs. "Lucy kick!"

He grunted in what she assumed was pain, loosening his grip on her just long enough that she could break from his hold and frantically scramble a few feet away.

The stranger coughed while holding his side, and spat a lump of pinkish red saliva onto the ground. He couldn't believe that this _girl_ had actually managed to injure him. Granted, he was a fast healer, and the damage wasn't all that bad, but the burning sensation in his side told him she may have actually _broken_ a rib.

"Had enough?" She laughed, hoping she was disguising the shakiness in her voice. She didn't want him to realise how tired she really was, if he realised he would surely take advantage of it immediately.

Even though she was talking big she knew her magic power reserves were getting dangerously low, she could feel her magic draining with every passing second, she was actually kind of struggling to keep Loke's gate open now.

This guy had proven himself strong enough to warrant using her big finishing move... but without enough power it would fall flat just as soon as she uttered the last incantation.

No, that wasn't an option. If she ran out of magic completely not only would she be at the mercy of this monster, but Loke would fade away before he could get Levy safely to the guild, not to mention her own life would be in serious danger. Magic deficiency disease was no laughing matter.

But she had to hold on, just a little longer, her friend's life was at stake!

Her only remaining option was to make another run for it. But with Gemini – her best chance at a diversion – gone, she would have to get a little more creative.

-[:¤:]-

Gray was sitting at his usual bench in the Fairy Tail guild hall enjoying a glass of whiskey on his much deserved day off. He and Juvia had just returned from a ridiculous week-long mission on Galuna Island, fighting off some mer-witch that had been harassing the locals when they attempted to fish near the reef.

Taking the mission had been his idea originally. He'd thought it would be a great way to take Juvia's mind off of a certain black-haired iron-munching idiot. But when the "mermaid" – who actually looked more like a leathery old hag with the tail of a shark and razor sharp teeth to match – had started conjuring iron spears and attempted harpooning the ice mage and his girlfriend, well, that had just caused Juvia to burst into tears – while absolutely _destroying_ the sea witch with her powerful water magic of course.

He stared into the golden-brown liquid swirling at the bottom of his glass. It was one of the smoother batches available at Fairy Tail's bar, each sip of the single malt burned his throat on the way down, spreading its warmth all the way to his belly in the best way. It was definitely worth the extra jewel he'd paid and he made a mental note to ask Mira to keep it stocked regularly. The ice mage was mid conversation with Juvia and Elfman – well, mid _listening_ to their conversation – when a loud crash sounded from the guild's entrance.

He craned his neck to get a better look at the commotion, attention shifting from the heated discussion Juvia and the burly take-over mage were having over baking and whether or not it was "manly", just in time to see Loke burst through the large wooden doors.

Gray rolled his eyes. Fairy tail's most notorious ladies man sure knew how to make a dramatic entrance. He was about to turn away from the scene when his alcohol fogged mind registered that something about the man's demeanor was off. It took a full minute to register the small body clutched to his chest, and another for Gray to recognise the head of messy blue hair that was sticking out in all directions along with the orange headband that was looking a little worse for wear, much like it's owner.

Most of the guild members were already on their feet, rushing towards the orange haired man as Gray hastily rose from the wooden seat he'd been occupying. His thigh knocked the bench top, toppling the glass containing the whiskey. It rolled to the edge before crashing to the ground, the remaining drink pooling on the floor. He cursed under his breath as he joined his guildmates currently swarming around the lion spirit.

Cries of "Levy!" echoed all around the hall as the ice mage pushed through a few people to reach Loke. The lion spirit was breathing heavily and looking much more ragged than his usual self. His black tailored suit was covered in dust. His glasses sat askew on the tip of his nose and his usually carefully styled hair was sticking out in all directions.

Loke's eyes found Gray's, "Please… take her to... Porlyusica... immediately," he panted, "I'm... already fading."

Sure enough, his body began glowing and was becoming less corporeal by the second, "Lucy is…" he seemed to be struggling to keep the worry out of his voice, "..almost... out of strength."

Gray's pulse quickened and the hairs on the back of his neck bristled at Loke's words as Elfman arrived beside him. Reaching down, the large snowy haired man gently took the tiny bluenette from the celestial spirit's arms and began lumbering towards the infirmary, his movements were deliberately slow and careful so as not to jostle her obviously damaged body.

Evergreen flitted off behind the large man and could be heard in the distance shouting angrily, "-careful or you're going to injure her further, you big oaf!"

But Gray couldn't tear his eyes away from the fading celestial spirit before him, he had a strange almost heavy feeling in his gut that something terrible had happened to his blonde haired friend. If Levy was in this bad a shape he couldn't, _didn't_ , want to imagine what kind of shape Lucy might be in.

The questions racing through his mind tumbled out before he even realised he was speaking, "What happened? Where's Lucy? How could you _leave_ her?" the last an accusation carrying the entire weight of his worry. He felt Juvia's hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He hadn't even noticed her approach.

Loke winced at his last question, "I'm out of time," was all he said as his body completely dematerialised in a burst of glittering golden light.

Gray was left kneeling beside the remainder of fading golden light where Loke had been, his questions unanswered. He spat a string of profanities at the last few specks of gold as all traces of the spirit vanished completely from the room.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Thank you for your patience everyone! Updates are slow as my PhD continues to cause me all kinds of stress...but I am still writing, albeit slowly :)**

 **Special thanks to those who left a review for me;**

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 **As always, your continued kindness and words of encouragement inspire me to keep writing! 3**


	6. Beginning

**Beginning**

 _The point in time or space at which something begins._

* * *

The putrid reek of waste and unwashed bodies assaulted Gajeel's senses as he slowly regained consciousness. That, coupled with a pounding headache, had him kind of wishing he hadn't woken up at all.

He groaned as he rose gingerly into a sitting position and blinked blearily as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light around him.

Suddenly the thirst hit him like a brick to the face. Oh what he wouldn't give for an ice cold glass of water to soothe his parched throat. It felt like someone had shoved coarse sandpaper down there, and then scratched roughly, a few hundred times.

Ok, so that was possibly an over exaggeration, but still.

The dragon slayer shuffled backwards, grimacing as even the most careful movements caused pain to shoot through his body. He leant against a damp stone wall, resting his pounding head against it and closing his eyes.

How had he gotten himself into this mess?

He was beginning to regret ever accepting this stupid mission in the first place. All it had given him so far was broken ribs and more bruises than he cared to count.

He hadn't even managed to gather any answers the other night when he had been _right there_ , in the middle of Zeref's personal study. Alone.

If he was being honest with himself, he felt like a damned failure.

Why did he have to go ahead and be so distracted by that stupid tapestry? With its colour and vivid rendition of his father and the other dragons . . . and then he had been caught and had to witness Jariah suffering at the hands of those _bastards_ and he had just . . . lost it.

He shuddered as the memories of those guards dragging him to the torture rooms came flooding back. The 'punishment' he'd been given at the hands of those cowards had been _unpleasant_ , to say the least.

His body still hadn't fully healed from his match with E.N.D and now he had a whole new set of aches to try and block out.

Stupid, _stupid_ Gajeel. Always losing his temper at the worst possible moments.

As the iron dragon slayer slumped against the hard wall in his dark, damp cell he tried to remind himself that he'd been in worse predicaments. Although, he was honestly struggling to come up with them right now – but that _could_ just be the headache.

His head throbbed painfully as in response.

Yep, definitely the headache.

He opened his eyes to assess his surroundings and instantly regretted it as his head pounded once more. Squinting his eyes into slits just big enough to see through was much better. After taking a second to become accustomed to the darkness he could finally make out the overall structure of his cell.

It couldn't be bigger than three by three metres. Excluding the wall he now leant against, all other sides of his cell were made from floor to ceiling open bars.

It felt an awful lot like a cage.

Gajeel wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but something about this place had him feeling like the bars were closing in on him. He tried to shake off the feeling, digging his fingernails into the wet rock beneath him hard enough that some of them split painfully, droplets of blood oozing out of the cracks, a metallic tang coating the heavy air.

It could be worse. Despite the lack of protection against the chill, at least the openness of the design allowed him to see into the cells adjoining his own. He squinted even further in the dimness, using what little shadows he could to make out shapes in the cells either side of him.

Somewhere within the depths of whatever dungeon this was there was a constant dripping. The eeriness this sound alone created as it echoed around the vast room was enough to cause Gajeel to shiver involuntarily.

If he strained his ears he could also just make out some faint muttering coming from the direction of the illuminated passageway in the distance. He guessed that must be the guards on duty.

The cell to his left was, mercifully, empty. Only a piss pot and a burlap sack, hinting at a former tenant. The cell to his right however, seemed to be occupied by a small round . . . creature?

Sure enough, straining his ears over the echoing drip he could make out the faint wheeze of the creatures shallow breathing.

"Oi" he called into the darkness, his voice no more than a hoarse whisper, "who're you?"

The ball in the shadows stirred, unfurling slowly and turning a round head in Gajeel's direction. Large bright eyes immediately caught his attention. The glowing orbs boring into him with a fierce intensity.

The two prisoners stared at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity, until the iron mage was momentarily distracted by a slight movement to the creatures left. Something long and very much resembling a tail flicked in the darkness.

Suddenly the creature spoke. "It's been ages since I've had a cellmate" a high-pitched voice echoed throughout room. "I was starting to think I'd be down here alone forever," the creature whined.

Gajeel cringed at the shrill voice and his head throbbed again. He immediately regretted ever engaging the creature.

But his cellmate seemed to be coming alive now, rising to its feet and padding silently over to the edge of the bars nearest the slayer. A sliver of light passed across it's face as it leaned forward. Pointed ears and whiskers coming into focus in the dimness.

A cat.

The creature was a talking cat, much like Wendy's best friend Charle. Except that this cat was blue rather than white and his feline features might be more . . . masculine?

It wasn't until the cat broke the silence that Gajeel realised his mouth had dropped open, "what's the matter with you, _weirdo_ , haven't you ever seen a cat before?"

"Course I've seen a cat," Gajeel snapped.

In fact, he had seen _many_ cats – generally while he chased them around the back alleys of Fiore. He was quite fond of the fuzzy felines, not that he'd ever admit that to anyone, and ever since he'd met Wendy and Charle he'd wanted his own talking cat dammit! As the only other dragon slayer in Fairy Tail it was only right. Or so he told himself.

"So, what'd they get you for?" The cat asked, changing the subject.

"None of yer damn business, _cat,_ " Gajeel spat out the last word.

The feline rolled his large eyes. "I have a name you know," he sighed, "it's Happy. What's yours?"

Gajeel croaked out a laugh. The rough sound reverberating off the walls and seeming to grow impossibly loud in the otherwise silent room.

He never in his wildest dreams imagined he'd be introducing himself to a talking blue cat named _Happy_ in a dungeon in Alvarez. What had his life become?

Footsteps echoed, growing louder as the man that generated them came into view in the shred of light that was being cast from the open passageway.

Gajeel choked.

It was him. The guard who had been there that day, the one who had beat and dragged his pretend-mentor. Jariah.

Something in Gajeel's chest tightened at the memory. He hadn't seen his ally since the torture rooms. He wondered if the man that had become his friend, of sorts, was even still alive. Perhaps he was unconscious somewhere in this room, in one of the other cells Gajeel couldn't see into.

"Cut it out you two," the guard hissed, "prisoner's aren't allowed to chat."

Happy let out a near-silent warning growl. Gajeel blinked at the sound, turning to face his new companion, eyebrows slightly raised.

The blue feline features that had been plain moments ago had now turned almost feral, sharp teeth flashed in the light. Gajeel decided that he liked this annoying cat after all, he had balls.

Turning back to face the guard he had threatened in Zeref's chamber he rasped, "Mind yer damn business." He would have spit, but Mavis, his mouth was so damned dry he could barely swallow as it was.

The guard's eyes darkened, "you'll shut your useless mouth if you know what's good for you." Gajeel could almost taste the threat behind his words.

A second set of echoed footsteps broke their silent staring contest as an unknown guard approached. "Everything alright here Toran?"

 _Toran_. Gajeel closes his eyes, reciting the soon to be dead man's name in his mind.

"Yeah," Toran drawled, "everything's fine."

Fine. _Fine_. Let him think he'd won. The dragon slayer had already decided that he would escape this rutting place. And when he did . . . Toran was the first man he would kill.

As the two men receded to their quarters just beyond the doorway, chatting amiably about some card game they had been playing, he opened his eyes, turning them once more onto the feline that had gone very quiet in the neighbouring cell.

"So, what'sa cat doin' in a place like this anyways?"

-[:¤:]-

Gray strode angrily into the infirmary, his face a mask of cold calm that gave away nothing of the rage he felt boiling inside him.

 _Lucy._

His friend was missing and he could only assume the worst at this point. How could she possibly be safe and unharmed when Levy was in this bad a shape? It was all he'd been able to think about since that orange-haired playboy had dropped his guild mate by the guild doors and disappeared.

No. He would be a fool to hope for such things.

The rage bubbling beneath his skin, threatening to devour his very being, only grew when he observed the single bed occupied by the tiny solid script mage. The usually bubbly bluenette was currently wrapped in so many bandages she looked more like a mummy than a human.

Master Makarov had taken residence by her bedside as soon as he was made aware of the situation. The white haired old man was currently dozing, head resting in the crook of his arm, in the large armchair that Elfman had brought in for his comfort.

Elfman had been a great help in the hours since the incident – everyone had. Except of course for Jet and Droy.

Those two idiots had been banned from the infirmary altogether. after their antics had pissed off Porlyusica enough that she had hurled some glass beakers at both of their heads and chased them out, brandishing her fist all the way to the guild's entrance doors.

He honestly couldn't blame the short tempered woman for her actions. Two grown men bawling their eyes out non-stop and bickering over who 'should have been there' to protect the blue haired mage would have been enough to drive anyone insane.

The ice mage made his way over to the master armchair and slumped down into the chair beside him.

He'd paced the halls of his and Juvia's apartment for hours before she'd finally given up trying to soothe his rattled nerves and kicked him out instead.

But what else could he do? His friend was Mavis-knows where – probably still in danger – and that bastard Loke still hadn't returned from the celestial world to give them more details.

He was going to wring that celestial pricks neck when he finally showed up.

If Erza didn't get to him it first.

The ice mage was interrupted from the dark turn his thoughts were taking by a low groan.

Beside him, the master's eyes snapped open just as Gray began to rise from the neighbouring chair. The old man started into a sitting position and blinked rapidly at Gray, "I wasn't sleeping, you were sleeping," he accused.

Gray rolled his eyes.

Levy groaned again and this time both of their eyes snapped over to the blue-haired girl in time to catch her eyes flickering as they struggled to open, her fingers twitching by her sides beneath the bandages covering both wrists.

"Gray, fetch that water" the master ordered, pointing to a cup with a straw sitting on the other side of her bed on a small table. He obeyed, taking the cup to the small woman and holding it in front of her face.

Her eyes were open now, although still half-lidded, more than likely from whatever pain relieving tonic Porlyusica had concocted.

"Thanks," Levy rasped, taking a small sip from the straw before gulping down the entire cup.

Gray took the cup from her shaking hand and she grimaced at his expression. "I don't look that bad do I?" she tried to joke, but there was no humor behind her tired eyes.

The master just stared at her from his chair. His expression was deadly serious as he asked calmly, "what happened?"

Levy cringed. Her eyes squeezed shut as she spoke, "there was this, this man . . ." she trailed off and raised her hands to cover her eyes.

"Go on child" the master encouraged.

Levy gulped, removing her hands as she continued, "he . . . he had pink hair and he . . ." tears rolled down her cheeks, ". . . his magic was a lot like Gajeel's," she managed, "only, he used fire." The bluenette shuddered at some awful memory. Well that explained the burns.

The master straightened in his chair, "you mean to tell me this man had dragon slaying magic?" He seemed disturbed all of a sudden, his white bushy eyebrows pulled together by his frown.

Gray asked, "what's wrong master?"

The master's frown deepened, "I just have a feeling–"

"–what happened to Lucy?" Levy wavering voice interjected. Her tears perhaps hinting more at memories of recent events, rather than the pain she must no doubt be in.

The master had gone silent, his face unreadable. A few minutes passed before Gray took it upon himself to answer.

"We don't know anything," he tried to keep his voice calm, schooled his face into neutrality, "all we know if that Loke burst in here with you unconscious in his arms. He faded back to the celestial world before he could tell us anything."

Levy, who had sat up a little straighter while listening intently to Gray's recount, settled back into the pillows supporting her. "I failed," she whispered, a deep sadness in her eyes, "we have to find her, help her," her voice had become more strained.

"You cannot blame yourself child," Porlyusica's voice called quietly from deeper in the room. The tall woman came into view as she strode over to tend to her patient, her cotton candy pink hair tied up in its usual bun.

"The girl needs rest," she hissed at Makarov, "stop pestering her and get out, both of you," she scowled in the ice mage's direction.

Makarov raised a hand in submission to the older woman's demands, hopping off of the arm chair and making his way out of the infirmary. Gray followed, but before they reached the doors he turned back to his injured guildmate.

"Do you remember anything about where you last were before-" he paused, not sure how to phrase his question without bringing up too many unpleasant memories for the battered bluenette, "-before everything?" he finished lamely.

Levy had just finished downing a small vial that the grumpy healing mage had handed her. Her eyes were already drooping as she settled back into the pillows. "We were almost at Hargeon when . . . when he . . ." she yawned, her eyes closing again.

"She's asleep for now," Porlyusica said. "Come back tomorrow when she's had a little more rest if you insist on pestering the poor girl with more questions."

Gray followed the master out of the infirmary, keeping close on his heels. "Why were you so surprised by Levy's description of their attacker Gramps?" he asked quietly, not sure he really wanted an answer that may cause him to worry more about his friend.

"Because my boy," master Makarov's face had become very grim, "I think our young celestial mage may have just become a prisoner of E.N.D himself."

-[:¤:]-

His prisoner had been quiet for a while now. Not that he was particularly bothered by the silence.

He was a feared demon in Alakitasia after all. He was used to being alone. Used to that cold, dark, silence that could swallow a person whole.

The blonde mage trudging ahead of him had run out of magic power a while ago, that much had become clear, from her obvious exhaustion to the fact that she hadn't called another one of her _things_ since the last one disappeared mid battle.

That strange bull . . . man . . . thing? Had been mid swing with that giant axe of his when he suddenly went 'poof'. E.N.D had been kind of disappointed actually. The demon had been having a lot of fun playing with all of the strange creatures the girl had summoned forth with those golden keys of hers.

She was a real feisty one, this weird girl, and restraining her hadn't been easy. Even with her fatigue putting a damper on her movements.

Now her movements, that had once held a certain feminine grace, had become sloppy. Her footsteps heavy, sluggish. And he had laughed more than once at her poor attempts to avoid tripping over her own two feet as he forced her on, occasionally tugging at the length of magic nullifying rope that he'd hastily bound her hands with.

But even this tired she was still putting up some fight. He could see the not-so-subtle shift in her clumsy movements from the corner of his eye as she made to run once again. Where did she think she would go? Maybe she wasn't thinking at all. Perhaps some pure survival instinct was driving her on.

"You stupid or what?" He drawled, tugging hard on the rope. She landed roughly on her knees in the dirt and turned back to give him a nasty scowl.

Although quietly impressed by the girls resilience, the demon was growing tired of her attempts at escape.

She was probably worried about the small blue-haired woman that had been carried off by that man in a suit earlier. Truth be told, he hadn't meant to hurt the other girl so badly. He had only meant to disable the pesky mage so that she wouldn't be able to support her friend.

But it was too late to dwell on that now. The blonde rose to stand on wobbly legs once more and resumed her trudging.

]-[

The sky had begun darkening and E.N.D had decided it was time to halt their – excruciatingly – slow descent for the night to set up camp in a small clearing. The open grassy nook he'd chosen was surrounded by some large trees that would provide decent cover should anyone be attempting to rescue a certain blonde haired mage.

He was busily arranging his bedroll beside a thicket of trees when his prisoner spoke.

"So, what's your name?" the girl, Lucy Heartfilia, asked from where she sat cross legged with her arms stretched above her head. She was chained to a tree at the edge of the dense copse of evergreens to their left by her wrists, her head tilted slightly as she observed him.

He flinched, and cursed himself for it. Caught off guard by the sudden break in the silence that had persisted between them since he'd tied her up.

"I've already told you princess," he sneered, turning to face her properly, "its E.N.D." He was hoping she hadn't noticed his jolt of surprise.

The blonde just rolled her eyes and the demon was even more taken aback by how nonchalant she was given her current situation.

"I meant your _real_ name," she said casually, not breaking eye contact, "surely your friends don't all call you _E.N.D_?"

 _Friends?_

His eyebrows knitted together and his mouth pulled into a frown as he regarded her, unblinking.

E.N.D was a mighty demon, capable of destruction on the most devastating of levels. He was perhaps the greatest gladiator in the world, worshipped by the crowds of the Vistarion colosseum reverently. He also happened to be brother to the emperor of Alvarez.

What use would he have for friends?

"No more questions blondie," he didn't have to answer her silly questions. She was _his_ prisoner after all.

He resumed unpacking, focusing on the simple task as a way of shrugging off her questions. But, the thing was, now that she had presented him with her innocent question the realisation seemed to be dawning on him.

It began as a strange feeling building up in his gut. A churning sensation, one that the fire dragon slayer was all too familiar with, thanks to his motion sickness. Only, this time it felt . . . different. He paused his task to clench and unclench his fists as a dull ache pulsed in his chest. Could it even be possible that a demon was feeling . . . lonely?

Surely not.

But for some reason this thought seemed to stir something deeper within him – something lost or perhaps slumbering. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it felt, _wrong_. Like there were hundreds of fire ants crawling in his belly.

He stalked away from her. Just a few strides, into the dense copse of trees to think.

There the fire mage began pacing between two large evergreens, their leaves rustling softly in the gentle breeze that had picked up as they neared Hargeon and the endless sea they'd have to cross to return to his brother.

Why was he suddenly feeling this way? It didn't make sense. How could one stupid question have him questioning everything he knew about himself.

He hated this girl, for making him realise it, that he was even close to acknowledging it. At least, he was trying to hate her. He squeezed his hands into tight fists, willing himself to go back to feeling nothing, to just empty himself of this strangeness that was suddenly threatening to overwhelm him.

Truth be told it was difficult for him to hate this girl. Mard Geer made it easy to hate him, he was a snivelling, arrogant, ass-kissing fool. This girl, _Lucy_ , wasn't like that at all.

She was brave – and strong. Fiercely loyal to her friends. He respected those qualities and he actually felt kind of sorry for her – for what would happen to that fiery spirit when Zeref got his hands on her. No-one ever lasted long when his brother got involved.

He was beginning to wish that he didn't have to hand her over to his brother at all, as he realised with uncharacteristic clarity that he actually wouldn't mind calling her his . . . friend.

He shook his head. No. He shouldn't be thinking like this.

A demon shouldn't feel. A demon shouldn't need companionship or even desire it. Demons were meant to hurt the people who needed and wanted these things, weren't they?

He was so confused.

And what was worse, was now that he'd recognised this feeling as loneliness, he was also realising that it had been there for a long time. Granted, it had been buried deep down, he just hadn't triggered the realisation sooner – before now, before her.

Since he could walk and talk his brother had been using him as a tool to fulfill tasks and he had been more than happy to comply with all of it. It was a part of the nature of being a demon to revel in all things death and destruction, pain and suffering. Or, so he had been told.

What didn't make sense to him was that it would bother him now, when he had never really spared his feelings a second thought in the past.

He wasn't sure when it had happened, but the soft clinking sound of chains rattling as Lucy tried to readjust herself startled the demon into realising that he had paced his way back to the makeshift camp, his gaze drawn to the dust covered ground.

The chains clinked again, drawing his gaze upward. No doubt the blonde was beginning to feel extremely uncomfortable, what with her hands having been pinned above her head like that for so long.

It was one of the worst positions to try and sleep in, and he was mildly impressed that she hadn't even mentioned it when her arms and wrists must be screaming in agony. Others would be begging him to release them.

E.N.D had never been one to take pity on his comrades, let alone an enemy and a prisoner, so he was shocked to find his body moving – as if with a mind of its own – over to where she was now half crouching, half squatting, straining to lift her hands up ever so slightly, no doubt in an attempt to relieve the tension around her wrists somewhat.

He moved behind the tree to where he had secured the chain out of her reach and proceeded to unfasten it, making sure to keep a tight hold on it as he did, so she didn't attempt an escape while he had his back to her.

He then moved back around to the front of the tree and slid the chain out from the loop on her wrist cuffs, instead, he slipped the chain around her waist and re-fastened it around the tree.

"Thank you" she sighed happily, rubbing her wrists and sinking back against the tree in a heap.

"Etherious Natsu Dragneel" he blurted, clapping a hand over his mouth immediately after the sudden outburst.

Lucy lifted her head up from the trunk of the tree tiredly to give him a confused look. "What?"

"My name, I mean . . . that is . . . my real name," he stuttered, he had never found it this difficult to form a coherent sentence before, "it's _Etherious Natsu Dragneel_."

"Etherious, Natsu, Dragneel," the girl repeated to herself, tapping her pointer finger on her chin at each slowly spoken word. And then after a seconds pause, "well I can see where E.N.D comes from."

She looked up at him and stared into his eyes with her large brown ones, "Can I just call you Natsu?"

He balked at that, his mouth opening and closing like some kind of fish that had been forced out into the open air.

She wanted to call him by his common name? His _human_ name?

No one had ever asked to do that. Not even his own brother called him by his human name.

But, he couldn't see the harm in it. He would be delivering this girl to Zeref soon enough anyway, and not even he was stupid enough to believe she would come out of that encounter alive.

Regaining his composure and refusing to let her see him as anything but in control, he said, "you can call me whatever you want princess, it ain't gonna change anything."

Lucy just slouched down further against the tree with a knowing smile, settling herself into the most comfortable position she could find before resting her head against the bark and closing her eyes.

And that damn smile never left her lips as they whispered, "Goodnight, Natsu."

He didn't reply to the blonde as he turned and walked away in the direction of his bed roll. Her words echoing around in his head as he slipped inside and lay flat on his back, looking up at the twinkling stars.

He was starting to really like this girl.

Maybe it was her spunk, her courage in battle, or maybe it was because she looked at him without the fear or disgust that he was so used to.

He didn't want to kill her. No. And he certainly didn't want to hand her over to his brother. But what other choice did he have? The demon had never betrayed an order from his master and creator. The one who had given him new life, new power, by turning him into the demon he was now.

And he was set to rendezvous with Tartaros any day now. Surely that pretty boy _Mard Geer_ would go straight to their master if he caught even a whiff of defiance from the fire mage by not showing up with the girl.

But, Zeref wanted her for a purpose. And even if he hadn't provided Natsu with all the details, the demon could be sure it wasn't going to be a happy ending for Lucy.

He fell into a fitful sleep, his dreams haunted by a faceless girl with long blonde hair, screaming as she burned. Burned at the contact of his hands around her throat against his will.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **IM ALIVE!**

 **Sorry it took a while to update. Life happened :( I'll work super hard to update sooner next time!**

 **Not a lot of action this chapter but . . . next time ;)**

 **Thanks to all who left me lovely reviews;**

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 **You guys rock!**


	7. Episode

**Episode**

 _An event or group of events occurring as part of a sequence._

* * *

The next morning Natsu awoke early to the sound of murmuring voices. He jerked up from his bedroll and snapped his head in all directions, listening intently for the source of the disturbance.

He was always on edge when travelling, especially when traversing unknown terrain in a foreign country.

Although his experience with bandits and thieves in the past had always ended fairly quickly – as soon as they saw how powerful he was fighting one or more of their comrades at once they usually turned tail and ran – he couldn't go all out demon mode with Lucy so close by.

She was a decent fighter by human standards but her body was otherwise soft and fragile, and he assumed Zeref wanted her in one piece. That didn't leave many options.

He sniffed at the air, picking out at least ten individual scents. Yep, this was bad.

The demon was on his feet in seconds, already shoving everything into his pack. He wasn't one hundred percent sure of the approaching group's intentions just yet, but he wasn't so stupid as to think that ten people would be traveling together using hushed whispers just for a sightseeing trip.

The thought of grabbing Lucy and running for it flashed through his mind, but he was quick to wave it away, his demon pride simply wouldn't allow such a cowardly course of action.

Besides, any detour from their current course would add a significant amount of time to the trip, and he was sure that Mard would notice his absence. Not to mention Zeref, his brother was probably already getting bored waiting for him to return. The demon did not want to be punished for making him wait longer.

So all that remained was for him to conceal Lucy in the hopes that whoever was passing through did notice her, he couldn't very well let his prisoner go after all the effort he'd put into catching her, but he also didn't want her to get killed on the off chance things didn't go his way.

He glanced over at the blonde in question, only to find her already blinking up at him through her large brown sleep fogged eyes.

When had she even woken up?

No time for that. He had to obscure her position and force her to be quiet before the passers by noticed her. And if yesterday was anything to go by she was bound to start bombarding him with annoying small talk and questions any second now, he had to act quickly.

He rushed over to the tree she was chained to and hastily began unfastening her.

"What are you doing? What's going on?" the blonde asked him in a hushed whisper. Natsu wondered if she had already caught onto something by the obvious quiet to her voice.

"Someone's coming," he whispered while looping the chain around and off of the tree, "I don't know who they are, but somethin' doesn't smell right."

He helped her to her feet in one swift movement and led her further into the trees, deep enough that she wouldn't be spotted easily but also close enough that his sharp eyes could still see her. Her legs wobbled a little, probably still fatigued and stiff from the awkward sleeping position.

"You need to hide here while I deal with whoever's coming," he growled, "and don't even think about running away," he pointed an accusatory finger at her, "'cause I'll just track you back down and next time I won't be so gentle."

The threat was obvious enough and Lucy knew he was being deadly serious. Still, she couldn't help the feeling that he was seriously underestimating her abilities.

"Why don't you let me help you?" She asked him quietly.

The demon seemed taken aback by that, pausing in his task of re-chaining her to another tree and looking at her with a pink eyebrow raised.

Quickly regaining his composure, his face morphed into a sneer, "what makes you think I need the help of a weak human like you?"

Lucy didn't like the way he looked at her, like she was some kind of bug he could squash at any moment. And sure, she didn't know exactly how strong he was, but she was strong too!

She gave him a pointed look. "If it's so easy for you, then why do I need to hide?"

The demon just resumed working on the heavy chains.

"Look _princess_ ," he said without looking at her, putting emphasis on her nickname from Virgo, "I don't have time to be lookin' out for you while I fight, and you'll just get in my way."

He finished tightening her chains to his liking, giving a small nod of approval when he was finished, "so," their eyes finally connected, "just sit here and shut up 'til I get back."

"At least let me have my keys," she muttered, "that way, if anything happens I'll have at least _some_ chance of getting out of here".

Natsu seemed to toss the idea back and forward in his mind, until finally he reached into his pocket, retrieved her keys and tossed them into her lap. "Fine weirdo."

Lucy huffed angrily at the insult, and would have crossed her arms for effect, had they not been bound to her sides by the chains, instead she stuck out her tongue at the fire mage, earning another glare before he turned around and headed back to their little makeshift camp to wait.

] - [

Natsu was having a bad day.

He usually had no difficulty in taking down this many men. In fact, he regularly faced large groups of opponents in the arena – given, they were usually peasant slaves who had no experience in fighting, and couldn't even correctly hold whatever weapon had been shoved into their hands right before the match in most cases – but this was different.

This was a large group of highly skilled fighters, and mages to boot. He had rarely taken on this many capable opponent's at once before.

Not that he was afraid, he _was_ the mighty E.N.D after all, but the fire mage definitely acknowledged the challenge before him.

The woman with red hair, who seemed to be the leader of the group, hadn't even joined the brawl. She was just casually observing from the treeline, arms folded over her chest, occasionally barking out orders to the others.

Which was pissing him off.

He spat fire at the mage to his left, hitting him square in the face in between transformations and knocking him to his feet.

He ducked as another mage charged at him, this one relentlessly hurtling large boulders that he could seemingly conjure out of thin air.

The fire mage gulped down air, summoning the well of magic within him as he prepared his fire dragon's roar. His head tipped back . . . right as a third mage surrounded him with a sphere of water.

] - [

The first few opponents had gone down easily.

Natsu moved with a grace that could only have been developed over many years of fighting. His hand to hand combat skills were beyond compare, far better than anyone Lucy had ever seen. Even better than Gajeel.

The strange man seemed to almost dance with his opponents, most of them finding out the hard way that they were unsuitable partners.

It wasn't until the last three mages attacked all at once that he had even used magic. His fire magic was some of the most destructive magic Lucy had ever seen. It was amazing to watch him this time, without being on the receiving end, fighting for her life. Not that she could see all that well from the tree Natsu had tied her to.

But even though he was an amazing fighter, and had taken down many of the mages with ease, one thing was becoming more and more apparent to Lucy.

Natsu was being overwhelmed.

Even with his immense strength and obvious skill in fighting, the pink haired demon couldn't keep up with ten magic users coming at him all at once and from all directions. It probably had something to do with the leader or the group, who seemed to be able to read the situation easily from the sideline, and was telling her mages exactly what to do to keep him occupied.

He was busy fending off a mage throwing huge rocks when it happened, one minute he seemed to be preparing an attack and the next he was enveloped in a sphere of water.

It was then that Lucy jumped into action.

Gripping her key ring she fumbled until she found the correct key, "Virgo!" she yelled. The maid materialised instantly and the cuffs on Lucy's wrists burst open as she felt the magical ebb of Virgo's star dress wrapping around her body. "Are you ok princess?" Virgo asked.

Lucy nodded, rubbing her sore wrists as she stood. "I've been better, but boy am I glad to see you!" She said, smiling at her friend. "More importantly Natsu over there is in trouble, lets give him a hand shall we?" She grinned.

"Umm, princess, wouldn't now be good time to escape?" Virgo reasoned, "Isn't that man over there the one who captured you?"

She made a good point. Lucy didn't quite understand why she would want to help the mage who had injured Levy and kidnapped her. It just didn't feel right for her to run while someone was in trouble. Even if that someone was sarcastic, mean, and had taken her as a captive not twenty four hours ago.

"Never mind that now," she said, waving it off while weaving through the trees, towards the fire mage and the ensuing battle, "let's just get this over with."

"As you wish princess," Virgo said, diving into the ground and moving in the same direction as Lucy. The spirit knew better than to argue with her master when she was this determined.

As soon as she had cleared the forest Lucy took off at a run towards the group of mages who were now surrounding her captor and laughing as he struggled to break free of the mass of water surrounding him.

She wasn't as good at tunneling as Virgo, but she was quite proud of the leaps and bounds she had made in mastering the shackled chains Virgo sometimes used as whips.

Something about the weapon made her feel at ease, perhaps it was the similarity to her own fleuve d'étoiles she mused as she summoned the weapons from the celestial plane mid run and began dragging them in her wake.

Lucy looped the chains around her wrists and began twisting them in the air at her sides. When she had reached a reasonable striking distance, she lashed out towards the water mage holding the demon captive in his bubble. The twisted metal clinked loudly as it snaked towards the distracted mage, alerting some of the others to her presence.

She maneuvered the chains with expert precision. One wrapped around the mages leg, which she immediately tugged to throw him off balance, and the other wrapped around his wrists, binding him and preventing him from continuing to control his water magic.

A startled cry left the man's lips as he thudded to the hard ground. As one, the man's companions turned on Lucy, the waterlogged fire mage momentarily preoccupied with coughing up volleys of water and gulping down air in great heaving breaths.

Lucy smiled to herself, a sense of relief and pride flooding her at her successful rescue attempt. Then the celestial mage turned tail and sprinted in the opposite direction, luring the now furious mages away from the pink haired man. They stampeded after the blonde with a single purpose, revenge for their toppled ally.

What the furious mages failed to realise, was that while Lucy had been distracting them, Virgo had been busy laying out a carefully designed trap. Countless expertly disguised man sized holes littered the rocky landscape before Lucy. Only a well trained eye would be able to spot them. Lucy's keen eyes and the bond she shares with Virgo while wearing the star dress allowed her to navigate such terrain with ease.

The other mages weren't having the same luck, two had already fallen in traps, one still screaming in pain, hopefully it would keep them incapacitated for the time being. The remaining mages were becoming more cautious now, the gap between them and Lucy lengthening as she danced gracefully between the holes, the mages following suit slowly as they watched her path.

Natsu watched from the muddy ground, all that remained of his watery prison, mouth agape at this turn of events. As much as he didn't want to admit it, this girl continued to impress him. She was dodging magical attacks with ease as she sprinted away from him, even turning back to poke her tongue out at that boulder throwing mage bellowing his rage.

But, she was leading his opponents further and further away. No way was he going to let her have all the fun! Besides, no-one touched E.N.D and got away with it. His fist connected with the ground as he leapt to his feet, hurtling towards them with inhuman speed.

Moments later, a satisfying crack sounded as Natsu's flaming fist made contact with the back of boulder throwers head. He smirked, feeling smug as he watched the man trip and fall into a conveniently placed hole.

Ahead of him, Lucy turned mid stride, distracted by the sound, right as a silver haired mage materialised from a cloud of smoke a few meters between them.

The mage was focussed solely on the girl in front of him and Natsu tried desperately to close the gap as he saw the spear made of smoke materialise in the mages hand.

Lucy saw it too her body coming to a halt as her eyes darted around her frantically, trying to find a safe place to run. Her food caught on the edge of one of Virgo's traps and she lost her balance.

She watched helplessly as Natsu lunged the last few feet towards her fist closing on thin air, the smoke spear just out of his reach.

Not even his inhuman speed was enough to reach her in time.

Lucy cried out as she was struck square in the chest, eyes growing wide as she fell back. Natsu hadn't been fast enough to stop the attack, but Lucy found her body hitting solid warm arms as she fell. The fire mages grip surprisingly gentle as he slowly lowered her the rest of the way to the ground.

Lucy found herself struggling to focus on the shape of the pink haired man hovering above her. She shivered involuntarily, feeling suddenly cold. Fear welled up within her as she realised she couldn't feel her legs. "Natsu," she rasped, not finding the words to continue as he stared down at her, a mixture of confusion and rage coating his features.

A guttural growl tore from the demons throat as he glared icily at the remaining mages who were slowly backing away from the scene unfolding before them.

Natsu seemed to be losing some kind of control over himself, his body beginning to transform. Dark red scales emerged across his face and long sharp talons ejected from his fingertips. Swirling black patterns snaked over his body as he turned, casting a hateful glare at the silver haired mage closest to him. He snarled once before jettisoning towards the man, leaving Lucy alone on the cold hard dirt.

She closed her eyes.

She wasn't afraid. Not of Natsu.

His arms had been so warm.

The last thing Lucy felt was a burning sensation against her chest as light flashed across her closed eyelids, then the world went black.

-[:¤:]-

The blue feline, Happy, sighed as he sunk back into the shadows. "How I got here is a looong story," he said.

Gajeel grunted. It didn't sound like the cat wanted to tell his story. But, maybe if he were to share first it would encourage his new companion into talking.

The iron dragon slayer eased his shoulder against the adjoining cell bars "I was sent to this country on a mission," he began, "Master Makarov heard that Zeref's planning somethin', somethin' big that'll affect all o' Fiore."

When Happy remained silent he continued. "I entered this country playin' a part," his arms spread wide, gesturing as he explained, "Wannabe gladiator, tryin'ta win glory in the famous Alvarez arena."

The slayer growled. "Was goin jus fine too, until a certain pink haired punk got in the way." He spat on the ground next to him.

"You mean Natsu." Happy said, resting his chin in his paws.

"Dunno who this _Natsu_ is," Gajeel scratched the stubble of beard on his cheek, "I'm talking about that annoying demon brat... E.N.D they call him." He sneered at the memory of that annoying crowd, jeering at him while they cheered for that dumb brat.

"Natsu _is_ E.N.D," happy sighed, "at least E.N.D used to be Natsu."

"Wait up," Gajeel's thumb and forefinger massaged his forehead, his head was starting to hurt all over again, "so you're tellin' me that guy I fought use'ta be someone else?"

"No _stoopid_ ," Happy snickered into his paw, "Natsu was raised by a dragon, went by the name of Igneel, but when he was very young Igneel suddenly disappeared. Natsu spent years wandering alone looking for Igneel before his brother Zeref found him."

Gajeel started, and not because of the mention of the familiar dragons name. "They're brothers?"

"Yep. According to Natsu, Zeref is his big brother."

Gajeel shook his head. This was getting even more complicated. Too complicated.

Happy continued, "Zeref brought Natsu here to Alvarez and had him start training as a gladiator. But Natsu was rebellious, always wanting to run off looking for Igneel and refusing to use his magic to hurt people who couldn't fight back."

Happy's eyes narrowed, "Zeref had some of his followers hurt Natsu, to try and make him behave." His gaze softened, "Then one day, when Natsu was in the forest trying to get away and look for Igneel, my egg fell from the sky."

"Natsu was captured by one of Zeref's demons while he was trying to hatch me. Instead of fighting or running, he agreed to go back to Zeref as long as he could keep me."

Gajeel closed his eyes, listening intently to the feline's story. Trying to gain any information on the nefarious demon or his evil brother that might be useful.

"After a few years we planned an escape together," the cat sounded very sad as he went on, "Natsu had been training hard to keep his brother happy, but Zeref was putting more and more pressure on him. Telling him he needed to start carrying out what he called Natsu's 'duties to Alvarez' or something".

"The plan was for us to sneak out late at night, and for me to fly Natsu to the small port town nearby-"

Gajeel's eyes shot open. "You can fly?" It seemed this feline was more similar to Wendy's cat than he'd originally thought.

Happy gave him a pointed look. "I'm trying to tell an important story."

The iron dragon slayer grunted a curse and rolled his eyes but remained quiet so that his cellmate could continue.

"Anyway, we got caught before we'd even left the castle grounds," Happy closed his eyes, shuddering at some memory.

"Zeref was furious. He used some kind of dark magic to seal Natsu's memories of Igneel away, along with all of his other childhood memories, including me," Happy sniffed, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"Then he used his power over Natsu to brainwash him into believing he's a monster," he whispered.

Silence stretched out before them for several minutes.

Gajeel finally broke the silence. "We're gonna hav'ta be smart if we wanna get outta this shit hole," he rumbled.

Happy's watery eyes connected with the dragon slayers. "How?"

-[:¤:]-

Gray pushed through the guild double doors and strode into the familiar common room beyond.

The smell of freshly baked bread and booze floated past him and he instantly relaxed. Many of the guild's members were enjoying a cooked breakfast at the tables scattered throughout the hall.

The ice mage beeline'd straight for the bar and plopped down onto the stool beside the ever present Cana. Fairy Tail's heaviest drinker was already cradling a mug of beer and it was barely ten. Not that Gray had a problem with drinking this early in the day, in fact, as Mira approached from behind the bar he waved her over and ordered a drink of his own.

Makarov had called another meeting yesterday – shortly after his vague rambling after their visit with Levy – to be held this morning, and there was no way Gray was going to miss it.

They still hadn't come to a decision on what to do about Lucy, and although Gray and Erza were both itching to run off and attempt a rescue, they had to defer to the Masters judgement.

Speaking of Erza, the fiery red head was not at her usual place at the bar. It was rare to ever see her without a fork stabbed into a piece of strawberry cake sitting in her favourite spot.

Gray swivelled in his chair and did a quick visual sweep of the guild, searching for his friend.

Macao and Wakaba were at their usual table bickering over something or other. Elfman sat with his sister Lisanna at their regular table, the latter smiling brightly at her hulk of a brother as he boasted about his most recent 'manly accomplishment'.

The ice mage vaguely scanned the rest of his guildmates, his eye's snagged on Jet and Droy fussing over a pile of books in the back corner of the hall. The pile was at least as tall as a small child. A dainty hand batted Jet away from behind the pile as he attempted to tug one of the thinner volumes from the middle of the stack.

There was no way Levy could be up and about already. But sure enough that was a tuft of blue hair peeking out from behind the tower of books. Gray's mind raced, there were so many questions he wanted to ask her. She might be able to give them a better idea about Lucy's whereabouts.

He stood abruptly, forgetting his drink altogether, and was about to rush over to the solid script mage when he was interrupted by a loud 'thunk' as Cana chugged the rest of her beer and slammed it down on the counter. He shot her a dark look.

"D'ya gotta be so aggressive, ya lousy drunk?" he quipped. The busty brunette snorted. "Where are your clothes?" she chimed, turning her back to him and demanding Mira re-fill her glass. Gray looked down at himself to find that he was indeed shirtless again, his pants also seemingly forgotten. Crap.

Well, no time for that now, hopefully Juvia would bring him a spare set, she was pretty good with that sort of thing.

He made his way over to the table currently occupied by team shadowgear in his boxers, ignoring the few newer members who gawked as he passed by. Plopping onto the bench seat next to Droy, Gray eyed the large book that Levy was barely visible behind.

He cleared his throat. Levy tilted the book and blinked up at him from behind her spectacles. "Oh, hi Gray!" she said, letting the still open volume fall to the table with a heavy thud.

"You're looking… better," he said, trying not to let his eyes linger on the bandages still wrapped around her arms, "you sure you should be out of bed?"

Levy waved him away with a wan smile, "oh yes, I'm fine now, really." She propped the heavy book back up in front of her face. "Porlyusica insisted on the bandages for at least a few more days but I feel much better," her voice was muffled by the paper and leather.

"Whatcha reading?" Gray asked, desperately wanting to press her about Lucy but feeling a bit awkward about the whole situation.

"When Lu and I-" she paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "-in the ruins we were exploring, something struck me as odd about the markings on one of the internal walls."

"Whaddya mean _odd_?"

Levy dropped the book again, chewing on her bottom lip and fidgeting with her glasses as she tried to formulate a response.

"Well, it's hard to explain. You see, when we accepted the job we were under the impression that the temple was used by sun worshippers..." she began, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her palms, "even when we were there, it seemed as if that were the case..."

"But?" Gray pressed.

"But now i'm not so sure," Levy finished.

Gray's brows knitted together. "So what kind of temple was it then?"

Levy's gaze grew distant, "I think-" she looked at Gray, her eyes alight with excitement, "I think they worshipped time."

* * *

 **A/N - For those of you who might be surprised by this update... Yes i'm still writing this story!**

 **Sorry it's taken so _freakin'_ long to get another chapter out. My PhD has been taking all of my time (thankfully I can just faintly make out the light at the end of the tunnel).**

 **If you are new here, Welcome~**

 **And as usual, special thanks to those who left me encouraging reviews;**

 **Sarara1.8 – noseinabook145 – An Amber Pen – Guest #1 – 8ytan – Guest #2 – ManderNaner – Guest #3 – – T-tawny – FlameDragonHime – Guest #4 – the real narnia**

 **To whoever is still here reading this, thanks for sticking with me!**


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